Dec. 12, 2023
By Emily Reed
Editor-in-Chief
The girls basketball team commenced its previous season with a 41-4 win against Garfield High School. This season, the team is looking to have a similarly successful home opener when it faces off against Garfield on Dec. 14.
Junior Asya Akar, who joined varsity as a freshman, said she is confident her team will be victorious against Garfield.
“I am expecting to win by a lot… but no team should be taken lightly,” Akar said. “LHS is now working harder than ever in practice. Coming from a long offseason, we’re putting in plays and really building our chemistry.”
Akar said the players are focusing on the younger talent since the team consists of four sophomores, six juniors and one senior.
“If we really work together and are on the same page as each other, we can accomplish anything,” Akar said.
She said her goal for the season is for her team to accomplish as much as possible.
“Of course, some games will be rough, but we can’t let one inconvenience ruin the whole season,” Akar said. “Inconveniences our team can encounter are players that get injured or if they get sick, especially when important games are coming up. We really try to step up our game and improvise as temporarily losing players can really affect our standings.”
Junior Jolie Paz-Garcia, who has been on varsity since her freshman year, said this season will be harder than last because of the challenging opponents.
“We have tougher competition this year, but we can be just as tough, so I think we will respond well,” Paz-Garcia said.
Having participated in both a summer and fall league to prepare for the season, Paz-Garcia said she expects the team to make it to the third round of states.
“If we really work together and are on the same page as each other, we can accomplish anything.”
Last season, the team ended its season with a 16-11 record and got to the second round of states where it lost 24-62 in an away game against Madison High School on Feb. 23.
“We are going to have a good year and rack up on power points to place higher in states,” Paz-Garcia said.
Sophomore Juliana Gonzalez, who joined varsity last year, said the players need to strengthen their trust in each other by doing more team bonding.
“A bond off the court is just as important as on the court. It will help us with [our] coordination,” Gonzalez said.
She said she expects the players to continue growing and working hard so this season surpasses the previous one.
“We’ll be better because we’ll have more experience with each other and [be] more comfortable with one another,” said Gonzalez.
