Basketball is a team game and as such, it’s difficult for a team to achieve anything without the five players on the floor working together. Going farther, every player on a roster has a role to fill in order for others to do the job they’re supposed to do.

But it was also made clear at the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation 2009 Awards Dinner on Sunday afternoon at the Conneaut Human Resource Center that no individual player can achieve greatness without the help of his or her teammates, coaches friends and families.

“Basketball is a game played by five players,” ACBF Hall of Famer Bob Miller said. “All five players are needed to make the team. You can’t win games without the skills of each player. No individual can do it on his own. That’s the way it was when I played basketball and that’s the way it is now.

“My team played that way. We were just a bunch of high school boys that loved to play. I accept this award on behalf of my teammates.”

“Without my teammates, I couldn’t have achieved such heights,” ACBF Hall of Famer Kelly Henson said during her induction speech.

“I’d like to thank all of my basketball teammates,” ACBF Hall of Fame inductee Billy Johnson said. “Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to have accomplished the things I did.”

Some of the speeches even cited teammates that toiled mostly in the shadows.

“My teammates, like it or not, lived in my shadow,” ACBF Hall of Fame inductee Kelly Johnson said. “I want to thank them for their love of the game and for working hard.”

“First, I want to thank my eight teammates,” ACBF Hall of Fame inductee Larry Lattimer said. “If it wasn’t for my teammates and the unselfish way we played, we wouldn’t have had the season we had... We worked well together.”

It wasn’t just the newest members of the ACBF Hall of Fame that were thankful for the contributions of their teammates. Their younger counterparts, the nominees for the ACBF Boys and Girls Player of the Year awards as well as the members of the Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County First Team, also cited how important teammates were in their accomplishments.

“I was here last year and I heard a lot of people talk about what it was like to play with their sisters,” Pymatuning Valley’s Rose Lane said. “I don’t have a sister, but the team was so much a family that I felt I had eight sisters that I played with.”

“I know everyone said it and it sounds cliche,” Geneva’s Krista Blake said after the event. “The team pushes you every day at practice. They’re pushing you to get better and you’re pushing them to get better. You’re after the same goal and you help each other achieve it.”

But the most important teammates to basketball players and coaches just might be the ones waiting for them at home, sitting in the stands or driving them to and from practices.

“You can’t do anything by yourself,” Geneva’s Brittany Powers said after the banquet. “If you have one person behind you or the whole community, it makes you a better person. My mom went to every one of my games for four years. It’s awesome to have someone like that in my life.”

“I want to give a big thanks to my mom and dad,” Henson said. “I wouldn’t have become the basketball player or person I am. My older sister, Kim (Triskett), you pushed me to play to the best of my ability, thank you. My younger sister Krystal (Henson), I know we had our battles, but I’m thankful for that. You pushed me to be a better player and I’d like to think that maybe I pushed you to be better, too.

“A.J. (Henson), I’m proud of the person and student-athlete you’ve become. I hope Mom had a little bit to do with that. Nana, thank you for all the dinners you made.”

The ACBF honored Jefferson’s Lizzy Ziemski and Geneva’s Taylor Webb as the Girls Co-Players of the Year and PV’s Andrew Smith and Lakeside’s Ace Jones as the Boys Co-Players of the Year.

PV’s Jeff Compan and Jeremy Huber received the Girls and Boys Coach of the Year Awards, respectively. Edgewood’s Jordyn Cicon was given the ACBF Coaches’/Referees’ Appreciation Scholarship, Brad Marinchak received the ACBF Officials’ Appreciation Award and a Special Recognition Award was given posthumously to PV’s Jeff Meddock, who past away last fall.