Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Gracie Betts

By Ray Hamill — After a season full of adversity and a schedule about as tough as any, two College of the Redwood women’s basketball players have received all-conference honors.

Competing in the No. 1 conference in all of NorCal, which sent five of the six teams onto the postseason, the CR women struggled in terms of wins and losses this winter and closed out the GVC 1-9.

Injuries didn’t help mattered, with the Corsairs’ top two scorers — Rachel Valdez and Kathryce Danzuka — among multiple players missing for the second half of the season.

But there were plenty of bright spots nonetheless, including the play of former Fortuna Huskies Gracie Betts and Kendall Stewart, who both received all-conference honors.

Betts was named first-team all-conference while Stewart received an honorable mention.

And both players helped pick up the slack after the injury bug hit the team hard.

Head coach Jain Tuey was impressed with the leadership of both platters, who were team captains this season along with Valdez.

“As a point guard, (Gracie) had a big role running our offense and being a leader out on the court,” the head coach said. “I think she was definitely a strong presence.”

Stewart was forced to adjust her role as the season progressed and had to become more of a scoring threat with Valdez and Danzuka both sidelined.

“I felt she did a good job of that,” Tuey said. “She had to step into that role and she stepped up.”

Despite the struggles, Tuey was more than happy with the effort and attitude of her players, who never let their determination slip.

Kendall Stewart

“We faced a lot of adversity and injuries throughout the course of the season, and it just kind of felt we were struggling to get though one thing after another,” she said. “We lost Rachel and Kathryce and Addi (Slaybaugh) all at the start of conference and it definitely hindered everything we were doing and everything we were working towards.

“But the girls kept a positive attitude and battled through every game. I was really proud that they didn’t give up and we found a way to enjoy our season.”

Tuey will lose some talented sophomores from this year’s team — including Betts, Stewart, Valdez and Danzuka — but is excited about bringing in some new faces and believes there is a “great senior class” in the H-DN this year.