The Girls Varsity Basketball team has had a lot of success and setbacks throughout the season. This year, the varsity team is made up of sophomores, juniors and seniors who have been handpicked based on their past experience on the team and performance in tryouts. Each season, the team is faced with a series of setbacks that makes victory slightly more difficult. How has the team been able to cope and succeed despite these setbacks?

“We have a lot of injured players including Senior Skai Bayless, our leading point guard, who is not playing this season. Sophomore McKenzie Walker isn’t playing either but she should be back soon,” agreed both Senior Captain Alisa Ortiz and Senior Alexis Rowe, finding the challenge for them this season is the amount of injuries. 

With a few people out on the team, it has caused them to readapt to the games without certain players. However, the team has kept a positive attitude and good work ethic through the many setbacks. 

“I am most excited to play in the playoffs and see how far we go because of the amount of players we have this season,” Rowe claims.

Despite the unfortunate trend of injuries on their team, these girls have found ways individually and as a group to improve their playing in each game. 

With Ortiz being captain, and both her and Rowe being seniors, they found it important to be good mentors and role models for the team.

“Being a leader, being captain, I need to lead by example,” Ortiz explains. 

“Honestly, I just want to be someone players can look up to in general because of how long I’ve played, learn from me and my mindset, I’d like to think I’m a well rounded player,” Rowe shares. 

“I think we all really like playing with eachother and make it enjoyable for each other. Liking your teammates is a big thing in playing together, because a lot of teams have drama and it makes it harder to perform well.“ Rowe expresses, not just seeing positives in their team through their individual contributions.

“I would say we have a much better defense. It is a lot stronger than it was last year,” Oritz claims. 

Overall, the team has a positive mindset despite the struggles they are experiencing. Obviously, with key players and friends being absent from the team, these girls are overcoming the challenges and finding ways to strengthen their mentality and defense for competition. With this kind of mindset, they have a great chance of making it to the championships!