The Girls Varsity Basketball team is entering its upcoming season with many changes compared to last year.
Last season was Head Coach Marissa Andersen’s first year, and it was a very up-and-down season. The Rangers opened up with a huge win against Reeths-Puffer, but then went on a three-game losing streak. The Rangers finished the season with a 7-15 record.
However, two very important things to note were that the Rangers were affected by many injuries and illnesses; they also did not have many bodies to spare. Both of these factors made it a lot harder to win games.
This season, Coach Andersen hopes to avoid these troubles.
“One of the biggest challenges for any season is injuries and illnesses. We were plagued with a lot of these last year, which meant we were oftentimes not able to play at full strength,” Andersen said. “ If we can keep everyone healthy this year, that would go a long way towards our success as a team.”
Another significant factor that might affect the Rangers this season is that they graduated 4 seniors last year, all of whom played significant minutes and were instrumental to the team’s performance.
This year, the team is composed of only two seniors, ten juniors, and one freshman.
While this is a bigger roster than last year, the Rangers lack the leadership that comes with having veterans that many other teams around the area benefit from.
Andersen knows that while this is one of the defining differences between this season and last season, there are many other factors that will prove to have a positive effect on how the team performs.
“We only have two seniors this year, which looks a little different from last year. But we have a really big group of juniors filling those spots who are all bringing their unique gifts to the team,” she said. “I think we are also starting out the season with more trust and belief in our system because we have had a year together as a program.”
One of the seniors and starting point guards, Lexy Scarlato, also commented on how different the game will look this year.
“This year is going to be different because we only have two seniors, so we are pretty young, and we lost three of our starters, so our lineup will be different,” Scarlato said. “We have also been working on switching our offense so it will give us a new look, and hopefully this will benefit us.”
Despite being the only seniors, Kenzie Manders and Scarlato have both been on the varsity team since their sophomore years. This year, they share a captaincy and are prepared to use their years of experience to lead their teammates.
“Being a captain is important because it is a leadership role and allows me to be a role model to the underclassmen,” Scarlato said. “That is something that is especially important this season since there are only two of us.”
Coach Andersen acknowledged how much of an impact the seniors will have on the underclassmen.
“The leadership of our captains will be huge for our season this year. We have two senior captains who are looking at their last year of high school basketball and have really adopted a “now or never” attitude,” Andersen said. “I think this drive will be contagious as they lead the rest of their teammates.”
The Rangers will open their season on Tuesday, December 9th at Caledonia. The Fighting Scots are not a familiar team that FHC plays often, so this will be a very interesting season-opener.
“Caledonia plays a fast-paced game by pushing the ball and always looking for transition points,” Scarlato said. “They like to shoot the ball a ton.”
Time will only tell if these changes to the Girls Varsity Basketball Team will prove to be successful or not. Regardless, the Rangers are ready to take on whoever shows up on the court.
“I have three main goals for the team this season,” Andersen said. “The first being that they continue to build into their competitive drive so that we can work towards building a culture of success in our program, the second being that we come out of the season with stronger relationships than we had going in, and the final being that we have FUN each and every day playing a sport we all love.”
