As November rolls around, it brings frigid air, thoughts about turkey and a multitude of winter sports. Among these is girls basketball. This program has always had an extremely competitive atmosphere around it, and the players love it. Their drive pushes them to be star players with outstanding chemistry during the regular season.

However, the varsity girls team has a tendency to “choke” in the state playoffs at the end of the season. As this season opens, the current girls are doing their best to not only get their heads in the game–but keep them there.

Varsity player and AAHS junior Kylee Blacksten describes the program as one word: “aggressive.”

The intense nature of varsity girls basketball can be seen in the sheer amount of time and effort the players put into preparing for competition. Between weekly weights training camps and open gyms that started in August, players have been training for competition long before the season even began.

The winter season is by far the longest high school sports season of the year. Beginning right before Thanksgiving break, the girls practice and play games until mid February. Although the season is broken up by Thanksgiving and Christmas break, this does not stop the dedicated Kadets from attending open gyms during this time to improve their skill and stay in shape.

Being able to anticipate a teammates thoughts and actions is a primary factor of success, especially in basketball. Between the daily practices and opportunities to play with each other, the girls develop unbreakable chemistry with each other.

Head coach Philip Roiko said, “Our chemistry is one of our biggest strengths. We have a very cohesive group that plays to each other’s strengths.”

Another large part of the Kadets’ success story is where they aim their focus. The coaches choose to direct the player’s thoughts towards a goal of teamwork rather than a goal of winning. They believe that if the players are focusing on each other, and helping one another out, “everything else will just fall into place.”

In regards to the playoffs, the girls tend to leave their outstanding seasons behind them. In the past two years, the varsity team has been ranked exceptionally high and has been predicted to make a huge splash in the journey to the final two. However, both times they have fallen short of their expected goal. Blacksten, who has endured both of these devastating losses, remarked that the playoffs last year were “really, really upsetting because we were playing really, really well and then, somehow, the tides changed.”

Beal, having coached the girls through both of the previous seasons, believes that the main reason for the unexplained losses was that the girls “hadn’t played the toughest competition, so they weren’t as battle-ready as they should be.”

Although there have been some rough patches in the past couple years, the girls this season are determined to finish as state champions. Blacksten explained, “We do have a fighting chance this year, if we play how we know we can play: fast-paced and in their face.”

The Lady Kadets will begin playing games later this month. Come watch the hard-working team crush the competition during the regular season and the playoffs.