New Season. New Success.

The girls varsity basketball team has a record of 7-3 as of Jan. 24 — a great improvement from last season’s record of 2-18.

Since there were no seniors on their starting lineup last year, the lineup has remained the same for this year. The starting lineup consists of senior Jordan Yowell, sophomore Reese Althouse, junior Kathleen Stanley, sophomore Sarah Bingham and junior Camryn Gossick.

Even though the roster hasn’t changed much, their strategy has shifted. They have made it a priority to study the other team’s strengths and weaknesses and make plays to their advantage based off their observations.

Coach Lawrence has been at East for the past four years, and she has been with the girls during their close games and into their improvement this year.

online sidebar issue 9“The senior class has been with me now since my first year so sometimes they’ll say ‘our freshman year’ like I was a freshman as well,” said Lawrence.

This year the team is working on studying their opponents’ offensive and defensive plays through scouting reports, which Lawrence gives them through Hudl, and watching game film to look for their opponent’s struggles. After scouting, the girls practice ways to attack the other team’s weaknesses — if a team has a poor defense then Lawrence will put in her best offensive players to increase their chances of winning. While they have studied their opponents in past years, their increased focus on it this year has contributed to their success along with the team’s bond.

“I think as a team we are a lot closer. We’ve done a lot of outside bonding activities that have really gotten us to be better friends which helps because then we are close and all trust each other,” Bingham said, “Not that we didn’t have that last year, but it’s a lot stronger this year.”

According to Althouse, the girls had a sleepover at the beginning of the season, which helped everyone bond and develop good team chemistry. They got to know each other better by talking more about school and life than basketball. Besides traditional team sleepovers and team dinners, they regularly go out to lunch or breakfast after morning practices. You can find them at Einsteins or First Watch, their favorite places to eat.

“It’s so much fun to just sit there and hang out after practices and talk,” Senior Madison Mustoe said.

According to Mustoe, being together for two consecutive years has also contributed to the team’s strong bond.

At practice, the girls work on their defense and offense versus what the other team’s offense and defense would be to prepare for the game. According to Bingham, this year they are emphasizing scrimmages and game preparation, which have helped them get to their winning record

The team’s new practice strategy helped them defeat rival, SM South, on Jan. 8 for the first time in four years according to Bingham. The game ended with a score of 40-32.

“It felt really awesome to finally come out on top,” Co-Captain Taylor Fort said, “After [the game] we were just so happy in the locker room, jumping up and down and Lawrence was so happy.”  

Lawrence believes that on the court players are more important than plays.

“When it comes down and the game is on the line, we want to get the ball in certain players’ hands depending on just the game,” said Lawrence.

After each game, the team studies the footage individually and then discusses possible improvements at practice. While they look for things to do better, they also look at things they did well and should continue to do, such as communicating during the game when they are open. According to Lawrence, she is always on them about their defense communication in particular.

“Sometimes in the heat of game everything can be sped up and it is great to be able to rewatch the games,” Bingham said.

The team’s improved record couldn’t come at a better time for the seniors, especially Yowell. For someone like Yowell, who has been on varsity for four years, it’s been great to end on a year like this year.

“It’s just kind of nice, especially being a senior and having everyone being like ‘oh, they are actually good’ because I haven’t had that in the past three years,” Yowell said.