Women’s basketball takes flight with young roster of players

Anna Boris, Crier Staff

With a fresh start to the season, the Women’s Basketball team is working hard to come together and have a successful season. The largest obstacle facing the team this year is the fact that they are composed mainly of younger players. The Hawks graduated eight players last year, leaving the team with just four returning players. Freshmen and sophomores are the majority of players, with just two juniors as upperclassmen.

Due to these team demographics, this year is a building year, as the team learns to play together and to find each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Junior Candace Andrews understands that this season is about rebuilding.

“We’re a really young team so that’s the biggest difference from last year, meaning we’ve got more mistakes to make,” said Andrews. “It’s definitely going to be a rebuilding year.”

Although there are mistakes to be made, the team can learn from these mistakes and fix them for the future. This is what will help the team to grow and succeed.

For most of the girls, it is their first season playing together, but they are certainly proving themselves thus far this season. The Hawks have a 4-2 record so far, and look forward to the rest of their season, which will extend into at least the month of March.

There are many strengths that the team has exhibited so far. Sophomore Caitlyn Abela believes their speed and energy to be an important factor in their playing ability.

“We’re a fast team so we like to outrun opponents and beat them to the ball,” said Abela. “Also, when we have more energy we tend to be more successful, so I think that’s something we need to be more consistent with.”

Preseason workouts also gave the team an advantage. Workouts took place at 5:00 AM three days a week during the fall, and pushed the team to their limits. Workouts were hard, but it prepared them for the long and tiring season ahead. Now they are in shape and ready to go. Preseason also gave the team time to get to know one another both on and off the court.

“We’ve been meshing throughout the entire preseason so now we’re comfortable playing with everyone,” said Abela. “I think we’ve been playing well and it will only get better.”

In order for the team to play well, each individual player must do her part for the team.

“Everyone has their individual roles, and everyone contributes in the best way that they can,” said Abela. “Everyone has been doing a great job with that.”

The team is truly coming together as a whole. This is reinforced by the team’s communication and their actions before practices. Before each practice, the team huddles in a circle and players talk to one another about the positive parts of their day. Then they sets goals for themselves, and the players evaluate themselves once the practice is over, and they do everything they can to fix the mistakes that were made.

With their next game against Stonehill on December 10th, the team is prepared and is looking ahead with positive thoughts.

“We know we’re going to make mistakes so we’re going to keep a positive outlook,” said Andrews. “We’ve got to push through it.”