After ending last season 8-14, the girls varsity basketball team has already surpassed last year’s wins, and will head into the final game of the season with a record of 12-11. The biggest change this season? The team itself.
Most varsity teams are predominantly junior and seniors with the top freshman and sophomores that make the team usually receiving minimal playing time. This basketball team is a clear exception to that tradition. Nearly two-thirds of the team are underclassmen, four of whom are in the starting lineup.
“We are such a young team. When I was a freshman there were so many upperclassmen, but now, it’s very underclassmen heavy,” senior shooting guard Genysis Howard said.
After a major injury sidelined Howard for the season, the team’s youth is truly being tested, as there are only two seniors still able to play. The starting lineup consists of two sophomores, two freshmen and one senior. With such a young team, there are challenges the team has never faced before. Most underclassmen would struggle with communication, but with the assistance of their teammates both on the bench and on the court, they have made great improvements.
“It shows in the games that we communicate well, the games that we have lost are mostly the ones that lack a little bit of communication,” head coach Catrina Green said.
The team’s improvement throughout the season is shown by their recent wins, such as against Mount Tabor, who they had previously lost to earlier in the season.
“This is the second half of the conference, so we have to pick up some wins to get pretty good seeding going into the conference tournament,” Green said.
Freshman Jeanna Baskerville is certainly doing her part. She has scored 283 points in 23 games, averaging about 12.3 points per game. This has helped lead Baskerville to have been nominated as MaxPreps’ “Player of the Game” six times.
“I’m trying to get 1000 career points by my junior year; but some more goals would be to win more games and beat the teams we lost to,” Baskerville said.
During the past few weeks the girls have fought hard and are 6-7 in the conference, putting them in fifth place in the Central Piedmont Conference (CPC) right behind Reagan. By placing higher in the conference, they are able to get a better seeding in the conference to have a better chance at winning the tournament. By winning the tournament a team automatically makes it into the state playoffs, which are divided into two regions, West and East, each being a 32 team bracket. Only the winner of each region can compete in the state championship.
“They are a good team, especially for their age. So I’m just looking forward to seeing how far they can push themselves to go,” Howard said.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Titans will host East Forsyth for Senior Night Feb.10. The theme is Green and Gold.