They’ve worked on press offense, press defense, two offenses and half-court strategies as well as defense. Now it is time to step on the court, run the plays, sum up the opponent’s weaknesses and anticipate the victory.
The Maiden basketball team will see its first action tomorrow in Klondike in scrimmages against Klondike and Brownfield beginning at 10 a.m.
“I expect us to be better than the year before,” junior post Destini Thomas said. “We have to be district champs. It’s kind of intense, but it makes me want to play harder.”
With a reputation for sweeping district, the pressure is tangible, especially with a new district.
“I can not explain the pressure,” Thomas said. “Everyone is expecting us to do as well as in the past. Even with losing all those seniors, everyone expects us to be just as good. It puts a lot of pressure on girls coming off JV and those coming back to varsity.”
The Maidens feel they must make up for the loss of the skills of six seniors from last year.
“I’m worried that people won’t rise to the challenge,” Thomas said. “We have four returning varsity, and we may be small, but we have to play bigger.”
Reigning district MVP senior Giselle Loya believes that the team does have advantages with its talent.
“We’ll be quicker than the other teams. We won’t be as tired as they will be. And we can take advantage of that,” Loya said. “We don’t really have height, so we’ll make up for it with speed.”
Even though only four return from last year’s team , Loya thinks they have potential.
“We’re young,” Loya said. “We will have more mistakes that we usually would have and hopefully we’ll overcome that.”
What most people see as a rebuilding season, Coach Dickie Faught sees as another chance to be district champions.
“We’re going to try to continue to have the same style we’ve had before,” Faught said. “We rely on speed, quickness and our fast pace.”
Youth on the team doesn’t worry Faught.
“We have some solid senior leadership,” Faught said. “The ones who are coming up will raise the level of their play so they can help out our varsity.”