Girls basketball perseveres
JUMP START: Senior Abbey Sloan shoots past St. Viator’s defender in the varsity team’s December 8 game that they ultimately lost. Despite the limited success the team has experienced in terms of wins, the team has a strong sense of community and plays the game at a very fast pace.
December 18, 2015
Girls basketball is off to a running start this season after the initial tryouts on Monday, November 2.
The girls had tryouts during the long weekend at the end of first quarter.
Jennifer Guth, varsity coach with nine years of experience behind her, commented that there was a great turnout. She said, “It was so great to see so many girls come out for basketball, including maybe those who have never tried it before and were interested in seeing what it was like.”
Isabel Michniak, junior varsity player, said that the formatting of the tryouts was ideal because they were “identical for what the practices are like, so you really got a feel for how the season was gonna go.” Similar to their practices, they started off tryouts with some warm-ups before proceeding to run drills with the coach.
They began their official practices later that week. Their first home game was against Lake Zurich, where they lost. Their first victory was against Deerfield. The team has played a total of six games so far.
The games themselves are very fast-paced. The girls are constantly running around on the court, and the ball switches hands very quickly.
Guth said that she did expect “a lot of excitement in our games.” They were trying to “get the game in a high pace energy, so I look for some really exciting games because our girls are athletic, and they just want to run.”
The girls and the audience members appreciate the pace of the sport.
Zoe Blomquist, sophomore varsity player, said, “It’s very fast paced, higher intensity level than I’ve experienced before this season, but with each game there’s a strategic game plan to help the team progress.”
The team has strong feelings of camaraderie amongst themselves.
Michniak said she appreciates that they “have to work as a team” and they’ve become “pretty close. We can goof around with each other but we can also be serious when we want to be. There’s good chemistry between us.”
Girls basketball still has a long, exciting season before them and are prepared to take on whatever challenges the future presents.
