Tom and Linda Carver have had a daughter on the Prairie basketball team for 11 straight years.

First Jessi. Then Laura. Then Beth. Now Katie.

Katie, the youngest daughter, grew up watching her sisters play for the Hawks.

“A lot of road trips. Dubuque, and Cedar Falls. Late nights,” Katie said. “At home games, I always sat with my parents and watched them.”

It began in grade school, then continued into middle school. Jessi graduated from Prairie in 2004, Laura in 2005, Beth in 2008. Katie watched them all.

“They always had a fire to get after the ball,” she said. “Always on the floor.

“Carvers aren’t very good offensive shooters,” she claimed, “but defense is our main thing.”

They live in Shueyville and have a basketball hoop in their driveway, where they played family games of Pig, Horse and One-on-One.

“They used to pound on me pretty hard,” Katie said with a smile.

It took awhile for the kid sister to hold her own. “Probably in middle school, I could try to fight back,” she said.

Dan, the only brother and the oldest child, played football at Prairie. Tom played football, wrestled and ran track at Urbandale High School. Linda played basketball, volleyball and ran track at North Scott.

It’s definitely a sport-minded family, with regular touch football games in the backyard with cousins. “I’m usually the receiver,” Katie said.

There are lots of fond memories, and Katie would like to finish her basketball career at Prairie with fond memories, too. The Hawks went 3-19 last season and finished the season with 13 straight losses, not winning a game for six straight weeks in January and February.

The prospects look brighter this season. Madison Dellamuth, a talented freshman, scored 20 points in a 50-44 loss at Muscatine in the season opener Saturday night. Alisa Weiland, a sophomore, scored 11 points.

Carver scored only one point against Muscatine, but grabbed seven rebounds. Mackenzie Blaha, a senior, scored 10 points.

Prairie led early, 13-3 and 21-8, but couldn’t finish the job against Muscatine.

The Hawks are playing a new brand of basketball and face a learning curve. They plan to run and play at a quicker pace, which suits Carver just fine.

“I like it a lot,” she said. “We’re not a very post-dominated team — I’m kind of the biggest person on our team (at 5-foot-9) — so I think it will be better-fitted to us as a whole team.”

Coach Steve Doser, in his 11th year at Prairie (yes, he’s always had a Carver on the team), changed the style this year to fit his personel. He met with other high school and college coaches during the offseason, getting fresh ideas and advice.

“It’s been a lot of learning for me,” he said.

Doser thinks it will pay off.

“We’re much improved from last year in terms of basketball ability,” he said. “We have some young kids coming up, and we have some good older kids returning. So it’s a good mix.”

Dellamuth, a 5-foot-6 point guard, looks like the real deal, a floor leader with vision and polished skills for a freshman. “She can pass the ball on a dime,” Doser said.

Prairie needs players who can get the ball from Dellamuth and finish the play. The Hawks had trouble scoring last season, with Carver’s modest average of 6.6 points the best among the regulars.

“Our ability to put the ball in the hole will be a lot better, and we’ll also be a lot quicker,” Doser predicted.

The Hawks are going to run.

“A lot more,” he said. “And we have the people who can do it and make good decisions with the ball in their hands. We’re not very big, so we had to change our sytem to be better for our program.”

Shelby Crist, a senior and co-captain with Carver, likes what she’s seen so far.

“I think practices have been going really well,” she said. “We’re not the biggest team – definitely not, going up against 6-footers — but we’re definitely going to be quick. We have some young players coming up who are going to help us.”

Doser thinks his team will rapidly improve.

“You’re going to see a drastic improvement this year to hopefully .500 or more,” he remarked.

“I think we’re determined to turn this program around,” Crist said. “The last couple of years have been kind of negative and not very good.”

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ROSTER

Seniors (6)

Katie Carver (5-9), Shelby Crist (5-5), Katie Wieland (5-7), Brittney Tonyan (5-7), Megan Galloway (5-9), Mackenzie Blaha (5-5).

Juniors (7)

Kaitilyn Yanecek (5-4), Brianna Bennett (5-9), Alyssa Beisker (5-9), Rachel Carney (5-8), Allison Neuhaus (5-9), Marisa Adams (5-6), Breanna Gaster (5-9).

Sophomores (2)

Alisa Weiland (5-5), Courteney McCrary (5-9).

Freshmen (1)

Madison Dellamuth (5-6).

SCHEDULE

Nov. 20 — at Muscatine, L 50-44

Nov. 26 — Mount Pleasant, 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 30 — at Dubuque Hempstead, 6 p.m.

Dec. 3 — at Jefferson, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 7 — Cedar Falls, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 14 — at Waterloo West, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 17 — at Linn-Mar, 6 p.m.

Dec. 21 — Pleasant Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 4 — Waterloo East, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 7 — at Iowa City High, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 11 — Dubuque Senior, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 14 — at Xavier, 6 p.m.

Jan. 18 — Washington, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 21 — at Iowa City West, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 22 — Bettendorf, 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 25 — Kennedy, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 28 — Linn-Mar, 6 p.m.

Jan. 29 — Mount Vernon, 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 4 — Iowa City High, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 8 — at Dubuque Wahlert, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 11 — Xavier, 6 p.m.