The Marist Girls Basketball franchise is already highly respected, but these girls are taking it to the next level. The freshman A-Team consists of some up-and-coming names for the present and future of Marist basketball. Their performance on December 3 proved all this and more to be true.
On that Wednesday night, the girls played against DePaul College Prep, but “played” may not be the best word for it. From the start, it was extremely obvious as to what the outcome of this game would be, and by the time halftime rolled around, the score was already 32-2, and it didn’t end there.
“I think the game went really well,” said freshman fan Mary Withers.
The team has had an impressive start to the season and the 44-7 win brought them to be 8-0 as of December 10.
“They played hard,” said Coach Meghan Ward. “We don’t go out there to be perfect, and we weren’t.”
Her goal for the future of this team is to help the girls grow into even better players and learn something from every game that goes by.
“We don’t make a lot of the same mistakes twice,” said Ward. “I have to say things once or twice, and they execute it.”
Fans also noticed.
“They really know how to read the defense and just read each other really easily,” said Withers.
It’s obvious that conditioning training is one of the larger focuses during practices. Throughout the entire game, nobody seemed to be lagging behind or struggling to catch up.
“They kept the intensity up throughout the entire game, and even through some of the mistakes it showed,” said Ward.
“We are really focused in practice and then we do really well in the game,” said point guard Charlotte Jarosik.
Even when somebody stumbled, missed, or made a bad turnover, the girls quickly shook it off and got right back to smooth passes, skillful three-pointers, and easy free throws.
The girls effortlessly ran the court and seemed to know where every teammate would be at any given time without question.
A key factor to the team’s success comes from spending hours together before warmups are even set to begin, building lasting relationships that cross over with them onto the court.
“We all are becoming more talkative on the court and are learning to play well with each other and our different strengths,” said Jarosik.
Despite the fact the season just started, Ward has noticed that the girls quickly bonded with each other, which has been immensely helpful for team performance in their game.
“We have a really good cadence now. We talk. We communicate. We support each other,” said Ward. “I think that we’ve found our stride.”
Basketball fans are hopeful for an exciting future.
“It was really fun to watch, and I would love to come again,” said Withers.
The RedHawks are pumped for their next game against McAuley and are hoping to see some familiar faces in the stands.
