A serious lack of experience, the resignation of a head coach nine days before the start of its first game, and a team recovering from a less than successful season the year before are all reasons for low expectations for this year’s girls’ varsity basketball team.
This year the team has only four returning players out of the 12 players who came out and of those four, the only two who started were senior guard Marie Tarlecky and junior guard Jocelyn Schultz, who combined for a total of 514 points last year. The remaining eight consists of three players who have never played basketball and the other five have never played high school basketball.
“It hurts us at the varsity level because the new girls should have a chance to learn at a less competitive level first,” says Schultz. “It also plays a major role in the way we have to play the game because the players with more experience get less breaks and need to stay out of foul trouble.”
Last year’s head coach Jessica Eaton resigned nine days before the opening game of the girls’ season leaving them in a tough spot. “Having to start over with a new coach that doesn’t know our strengths or weaknesses as individuals or as a team is difficult and will definitely set anyone back,” says Schultz.
Others have a significantly different view of the situation. “It doesn’t affect us that much because it ultimately comes down to our desire as a team to succeed and win basketball games,” says Tarlecky.
After not making playoffs for three consecutive years, the team will look to rebound this year but with all this adversity, it will make it difficult to break that streak. “We have the talent and if we can play together as a team we will become a much better team than in years past,” says Tarlecky. However, with an 0-3 start it will be hard to bring back the former glory of Lady Panthers basketball.