Staff photo / Brian Yauger Mineral Ridge senior Ava Hulett, center, splits the defense to put up a shot during the Al Beach Classic on Tuesday at Canfield High School.

By BRIAN YAUGER

Staff writer

CANFIELD — Ask any coach around the area about what they want for their senior class, and a phrase often heard is “to leave the program in a better place than they left it.”

The three seniors on Mineral Ridge’s roster this past season lived up to that.

As a freshman, Ava Hulett’s Rams team finished with just two wins. After four seasons, Hulett leaves the program with two league titles and a 19-win senior year.

On Tuesday, Hulett and coach Amy Harrison got to celebrate the last four seasons with one final game together, taking part in the Al Beach Classic at Canfield High School.

“It was really nice that we got to have one last game together, but it’s sad that it’s gonna be the last time ever,” Hulett said.

Hulett was the lone representative from Mineral Ridge, having led the team with 18.2 points per game, averaged 10.3 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.

“It’s extremely nice just to know that all that hard work during the season paid off,” Hulett said. “And you get to go have fun with the people you were just trying to beat.”

Two of those people were Player of the Game Jameka Brungard and Mariana Tuscano, both from Springfield. While they didn’t get to team up with Hulett, stationed on opposite benches again, getting to share the moment with two of her closest friends was a highlight of the night.

With her time in the program in the rearview, Hulett reflected on the last four years. While it wasn’t easy at first, the senior is happy with how it ended.

“My first couple years were a struggle when you’re young, but knowing that we finished with two league titles and we had good runs in the tournament, it was really nice,” she said.

The impact she’s left on the program helped set the tone for the Rams for years to come.

“She helped turn the program around,” Harrison said. “Her and that class, they were freshman in my first year and you can see the progression that they made. Just being better and better and the harder they worked, they really helped turn this program around.

“They were good leaders and just good people all the way around. They always were respectful to everybody, they led by example. Some of them were vocal. Some of them just by coming into a practice and working hard. I hope that that’s something that in the future, hopefully the girls continue to do well, and (future Rams players) can look up (at the banner) and say, ‘I remember that class.'”

Hulett will continue her academic and athletic career at a college to be determined. Hulett plans to run track wherever she winds up and major in either biology or biochemistry.