By DAVID WOOD, for The Democrat
In his fifth season as head coach for the girls varsity basketball team, Matt Roberts feels as if the squad is picking up where last season ended.
The Eagles finished the 2017 season with an overall record of 10-12 while graduating just two seniors in the process.
“We had a good chunk of girls coming back this year who have had some varsity experience. We do have one out right now with an injury, but other than that, we have a nice core of our players coming back,” Roberts said.
“We feel like we’re hopefully picking up where we left off last year.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Eight out of 10 returning varsity members are juniors and seniors. As a result, the core group of girls has good chemistry, he said, despite balancing new members and new responsibilities.
“There’s always an adjustment when you have a few graduate and you bring in some new ones. They develop new roles and new identities on the team, but they’re a good group and they get along with each other,” Roberts said.
So far the squad is 2-2, with one win and loss having been decided by just a single point.
They kicked their season off with a 51-50 victory over Bloomfield, but followed with a nearly identical 46-45 loss to Bloomington North.
“We’ve had some battles. … Earlier we had a nice blowout win by about 30 or so. Tonight, we were on the losing end of a double-digit loss,” Roberts said.
“It’s been up and down, but overall I’m pleased with how the team has fought and played through a variety of situations. I feel good about our progress up to this point.”
At 2-2, the team seems perfectly poised to make their run at Roberts’ goal of a positive win-loss record. While they’ve been gradually trending upward, no squad in the past four or five years has finished the season above .500, Roberts said.
However, the Eagles are soon to enter what could be the roughest part of their season.
“Last year it was about this point where we get into a pretty tough part of our schedule, and there’s a lot of teams in front of us that could be some close, competitive games,” he said.
“I definitely want to be able to see us win when we get into those tight, single-digit games. I have a feeling we’re going to be in a lot of close ones like that, and last year that’s where we struggled. … I think learning from that experience is going to carry over and we’ll be better off.”
Leading the squad through those game-determining situations will be elected co-captains Dasia Wilkerson and Allison Stogsdill.
Wilkerson, one of two seniors alongside Skylar Fleischman, feels as if she’s looked at as a leader because of her seniority. Having played since first grade, the veteran makes sure to be vocal during a game as well as in practice.
“I think I take that role pretty seriously and do it well,” Wilkerson said.
Now in her final year, she feels as if there’s added pressure to perform.
However, she’s confident in a positive season because of the team’s promising start.
“It’s been a pretty good start to the season so far. … I think we’re definitely getting better and we’re trending upward for sure,” she said.
While striving to do her best, the senior isn’t focused on individual numbers. Instead, she’d like to pad their record one game at a time.
“Everyone has personal goals, like scoring points, but for me, I don’t want to be that person who’s all about me. Personally, I just want to get wins. That’s the goal: Just win one game at a time one possession at a time,” she said.
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Seniors: Skylar Fleischman, Dasia Wilkerson
Juniors: Piper Boyer, Aubrey Hollander, Abigail Hollander, Adri Kritzer, Gracie Matlock, Allison Stogsdill
Sophomores: Kaylen Combest (JV), Anna Fleetwood, Isa Fogg (JV), Katelyn Harris, Halie Lunsford (JV)
Freshmen: Kailey Buccos (JV), Abby Harris (JV), Abby Padgett (JV), Christy Sebastian (JV), Declyn Wilkerson (JV)
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