“God, it was in front of probably half the team, and I have never forgotten it. It will live in my dreams. It’ll haunt me forever,” she said. “… It was just practice, thank God. If it was a game, I would’ve lost it.”

The embarrassing moment makes more sense in the context of Feemster’s offseason. She had barely played organized basketball in months, instead focusing on her primary sports: soccer and lacrosse.

Her experience is common on Severna Park’s roster, much of which spends less time on basketball than rival teams. Consequently, most Falcons players have less developed skills. Despite that, Severna Park (15-1) is on a roll a season after advancing to the state semifinals.

It has done so thanks to a coaching staff that has adapted its in-game and practice strategies to suit the roster. And the Falcons’ dedication lets them maximize the few months they spend on basketball.

“These are the top athletes that you can get, right?” Coach Kristofer Dean said. “But they’re mechanical because [basketball is] not their number one thing. They’re not working on this. They’re not playing this sport for 365 days a year.”

Feemster, who is committed to VCU for lacrosse, estimated she spends just 25 percent of her sports time on basketball, almost all of it during the Falcons’ season.

Severna Park’s players most often struggle with ballhandling and shooting. Feemster (13.2 points) is the only player averaging double figures in scoring. The Falcons have scored more than 50 points just four times, but they have allowed 40 or more points just once.

Dean said the Falcons pride themselves on defense: “Our program really has to because we don’t have the basketball players. And so, offensively, we’re limited.”

Dean’s coaching experience includes an internship with Coach Brenda Frese and the Maryland women’s basketball program, a time that heavily influences his defensive scheme. The Falcons play a helping player-to-player defense the coach believes few other programs use. It works: Four players average at least two steals, and opponents are averaging fewer than 30 points.

But even playing defense, which allows Severna Park’s players to more easily tap into their length and speed, requires teaching. Assistant coach Brooke McAdam recalled having an epiphany while watching the Falcons win their most recent girls’ lacrosse state title: Severna Park’s basketball team got called for so many fouls because its players were used to defending in lacrosse, in which defenders can aggressively hound attackers with their sticks.

It takes the Falcons some time to get back into basketball after an offseason without it. That turns the beginning of the season into a review session on core skills that coaches don’t usually have to reteach to varsity players.

McAdam recalled a layup drill that was supposed to conclude based on how well the players executed. It took Severna Park 26 minutes before the coaches stepped in — they couldn’t spend all practice on this.

The team would practice between-the-legs crossovers, and Feemster found herself chasing her mishandled ball all over the court.

The Falcons’ coaches often find themselves thinking, “Oh, my God, what do we have here?” in the early season, McAdams said. “We’re like a lump of Play-Doh, and we’re like, ‘How are we going to mold this into something?’ ”

They often mold it into a solid team — Severna Park hasn’t had a losing season in more than a decade. Dean took over in 2017 and posted his 100th win as Falcons coach Tuesday.

That process requires complete buy-in from players, most of whom won’t play in college. The Falcons lacked that early this season as they muddled through preseason scrimmages and a narrow, hectic opening win against Severn.

The day after, players gathered on their own to hold one another responsible. Their intensity in practice had dipped — unsustainable for a team that needed to take advantage of every opportunity to improve.

“It was kind of like goofing off on the sidelines when we should be paying attention,” Feemster said. “But after that [talk, there was] strict focus; nobody was talking on the sideline. We were all just locked in and ready to play.”

Feemster knows what winning demands. She has won state championships in both soccer and lacrosse at Severna Park.

The lacrosse championship was the program’s record 15th Maryland state title. The soccer title was its first in 20 years. She’s trying to help the Falcons to their first in basketball — girls’ or boys’. But even beyond that, her tertiary sport has entrenched itself as a distinct, seminal part of her athletic career.

“It’s a lot smaller of a team [than soccer or lacrosse]. It’s so together. … Even if we have practice two hours a day for six days a week, I still want to hang out with these girls outside of practice,” Feemster said. “… I’m going to miss it so much.”