![Colin McRaven ('24) prepares to pitch the ball to an Anclote batter during the Varsity pre-season game."I like striking people out, since it's fun. The game against Anclote was pretty easy because they were less talented than our team and [I think] we were better than them in every aspect," Colin McRaven ('24) said.](https://jwmhshoofbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_1538-1200x928.jpg)
The Varsity Girls basketball team faced Wiregrass ranch on Jan. 23, 2024 and won with a score of 41-36.
Priya Jacob (’25), captain of the team, has been on Varsity since her freshman year. She talks about how they all prepared to face-off against Wiregrass, and some of the difficulties that they faced when preparing for the game.
“We’re mentally telling ourselves to just keep playing hard and strong because we just got off a really late bus ride last night and we were all very fatigued and tired. In the locker room before the game, we were just giving ourselves some confidence being like, ‘we can beat them, we can do this’ and just uplifting our mood and spirits because when we have our spirits up, that’s when our energy gets going, and that’s what shows success on the court,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs talks about her thoughts on how the team did against Wiregrass and how the loss of certain players has affected the team as a whole.
“I think we did very well, we’ve been very good on chemistry in the last couple of games because we’ve lost so many players and so we kind of came together and said ‘hey, let’s use this as a way to come together and play our game.’ Our defense is very strong and I think that our passing has gotten a lot better,” Jacob said.
Moriah Hillmon (’26) plays two positions on the team: shooting guard and point guard playing both in club basketball, which is just starting up and on the school team she describes some of the things that the team does really well that help them in their games.
“Probably our communication, just communicating on the court and communicating in general together,” Hillmon said.
Hillmon describes some of her goals and things that she wants to improve on for the season.
“I wanted to be leading in steals, I’m close,” Hillmon said, “[I want to improve in] defense and finishing.”
Sydney Reinhart (’26) also has two positions on the team, she plays a small forward and power forward. She describes what the basketball team’s schedule looked like.
“We had six games in a row. Our Monday game was a bus game, so it was an hour drive, so we didn’t get home until like midnight, but it was fun because we still won the whole week,” Reinhart said.
With the team having to face many games in the same week, and having to travel for a good portion of them, this can lead to exhaustion and fatigue. Jacobs comments on how this can affect the girls on the team and how they play.
“I think I’m used to it by now because I’ve been doing this since freshman year but I feel like with the other girls it gets them a little bit more mentally fatigued, maybe not as much as like the other girls who have a lot more on their plate school wise. I know I take a bunch of AP and DE classes and that just kills my time with homework. I think it’s definitely mentally fatiguing, but that’s why I look forward to sleeping on the weekends,” Jacob said.
Reinhart described some of the feelings after the game against Wiregrass ranch, and some of the things that the team will continue to work on.
“Going into the game I was excited because I was playing with my old teammates, but after the game even though we won, we did not do good, so we weren’t all that happy. We definitely need to work on communication and not getting so mad at each other so easily,” Reinhart said.
Jacob mentions some of the things that she does to prepare for upcoming days and how to combat the exhaustion that comes with playing multiple games in a single week.
“Before a game I’ll almost zone out, put my headphones on and just go through my head the few things that I need to do to be content with how I played. Going in there just so I can feel I made an impact because I might feel lazy and sloppy, but I really don’t want to show it on the court. It’s just kind of like a talking yourself down type thing,” Jacob said.
The team has since faced East Lake and won with a score of 53-41. Their next game is on Jan. 29, against Countryside.
