BRIGHTON – There’s no mother in Brighton High School girls basketball this season.
    While the use of “mother” may well be followed by some other choice word in the heat of a game, Kayla Mescher won’t get a typical response from the word “mother” in addressing her mother, who happens to be Traci Mescher, the coach of the team.
    “At lot of times, I’ll be calling her ‘mom’ at practice, and she’ll ignore me and say, ‘There’s no mom here,’” said Kayla Mescher, who is a senior for the Bulldogs. “It’s difficult playing for my mom because it’s hard to differentiate between coach and mom. It’s also hard not to judge the way she’s coaching and not say something.”

    Brighton has had a tough season so far. Bigger schools have beaten the Bulldogs. So has Prairie View for the first time in the ThunderHawks’ history. The second win was a non-conference, two-point triumph Friday night.
    It’s been harder for Kayla Mescher in another respect. She played as a freshman, and then sat out the last couple of seasons. She opted for club volleyball. She also had back surgery, and doctors told her playing basketball wouldn’t be a good idea.
    “I think playing the last few years would have helped this season a lot,” she said. “I would have been used to playing for her and just playing in general, actually. The doctors said basketball probably wasn’t a good idea last year, since I only had surgery seven months before, and it’s a pretty physical sport.”
    “It hasn’t been hard,” Traci Mescher said. “We don’t talk a lot about the games at home. We talk a little bit. The kids have adapted well. In fact, one of my assistants has a daughter who plays on the team. So we bounce stuff off each other. I made decisions based on what we need as a team at that time, not which player I should put in at that time. I don’t look at that.”
    Kayla Mescher wants to go to college in her home state of South Dakota. She hasn’t decided where, though she’d like to study medicine. She decided to play basketball this season on her own.
    “I was excited,” Traci Mescher said. “I knew she was a good athlete. I was so excited to have the chance to coach her. I’ve never had the chance to coach her. It was her decision to play club volleyball. She could have been good all four years. It would have been fun. I guess she wants to go out with a bang and play all three sports.”
    Mom loves the arrangement.
    “I love spending the time with her instead of being away from home,” Traci Mescher said. “She understands I am her coach on the floor and at home, I am her mom. She understands the difference. When I yell here, it’s because I am coaching.
    “It’s been great.”