Going into a sports season no one knows what to expect. Girls basketball is starting again this year after breaking the school record for most wins and with a sectional state championship on their shelf.  They are returning nine players: Rileigh Baggett, Gwen Tuhy, Alex Reigle, Gwen Eilender, Beau Braverman, Charlotte Tuhy, Gabby Mariani and Ashley Driscoll. As well as adding new faces ready for the season with Katherine Finnegan, Devon Johnson and Mallory Dineen joining the team. 

At the preseason Media Day, George Csatlos asked Alex Reigle how winning the state sectionals shapes the upcoming season: “It will definitely put more pressure and expectations on us, but it’s a good pressure. We obviously want another ring and the feeling of winning again for us seniors as we go out from MHS”. The girls team as Alex summed up, is ready to make it happen again this year as the seniors want to go out with a bang.

Leading by good example is a significant contribution to working hard. As one of the team leaders, Gwen Tuhy was asked how she motivates her team, she stated: “For me, showing the underclassmen resilience and the effort of working hard is where you get somewhere.” 

When asked about their personal goals, she and her teammates passed the microphone to every player and they all had the same thing in common: working on offense. Working hard on defense is a given for this team. Working on their offense, and memorizing the plays is important for the girls to grow their game.

After being asked by Morris Sussex Sports about losing in the Group semi final to Jefferson last year and if it beating them this year would mean something, Gwen Tuhy said, “For us, winning against Jefferson would mean a lot because in the past we’ve lost to them every time we’ve played them, so being able to beat them and then winning a Group would mean so much, espcially for us seniors as our last season”. 

In terms of conditioning they’ve improved in the course of a year with summer pratcices as well as workouts, even in the spring the girls followed a workout circuit from their coach. 

Going into preseason, the girls conditioning was already prepared so they could keep focusing on skills and installing new plays for offense. Alex Regile shared in terms of conditioning what they worked on, “Getting our jumps higher and getting more explosive off the ball, so speed in general and running endurance because we’re sprinting for most of the time.” Building endurance and conditioning was the most important ingredient in completing the recipe to getting better and better.

Pushing each other in practice, no matter who you’re up aginst is a mindset this team always has. As for the team chemistry, playing together with the same teammates from preseason benefits everyone. When Mark Kitchin from the Daily Record asked if it’s comfortable to be back with people who know each other, Erin Kleiven responded, “There’s normally a whole new team, so coming back with the same team and chemistry will help and being able to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses will help us get even better than last year”.

The girls basketball team is ready to go for the new season and with positive outlooks they’re going to bring the heat. As the girls have said, they can take the pressure and their principle and goals remain the same. To explain the teams devotion and outlook for the upcoming season in a few words, “we hustle harder, we play smarter, and we support each other.”

Live to tape Media Session