The Ladyneck basketball team and Coach Hutchins will be going into their district part of their basketball season. The date of their first basketball game happens to be undecided, however their district season will start with the new semester.

“Starting last year, all of our current juniors on the team had to step up and take the role of seniors when we were just sophomores. So we [the current juniors]…only got one year of leadership from any older basketball players and that was our freshmen year. Although, I think that us having to step up and take responsibility for the basketball program really helped us grow as players… All we can do now is do our best and try to be good examples to the other underclassmen,” junior Landry Seimears said.
As the oldest members of the team, Seimears and the other junior basketball girls lead and set the examples for the underclassmen during practices and games. The coaches don’t make practices any easier for the younger girls.

“It’s hard [being the youngest group on the team] because we have the least amount of experience… but it makes us work harder and pushes us to get better so I guess it works out for the best,” freshman Katie Warren said.
The freshmen basketball girls practiced and worked out with the high school basketball girls their eighth grade year. However, high school basketball means different coaches and different expectations.

“When I’m practicing with [the upperclassmen] I’m constantly worried about messing up… because, although I’m not as good as they are, I feel like I should [make myself better.] They definitely help [me in practice] because they push me to try harder and prove myself as a player,” freshman Sabrina Smith said.
Though the freshmen are the least experienced on the team, they are still expected to be able to do what the upperclassmen do. The juniors push the underclassmen to do their best in practices.

“Even though the season just picked up, I feel like everyone [on the team] picked right back up to where we were at the end of last season,” sophomore Bella Sacco said when asked about her bond with her teammates.
With practices everyday after school, and going to games with each other, the girls’ shared time with one another forms relationships between them.

“We work hard and pay the prices of not doing our best together, but we also laugh together which I think has really brought us close together this year,” Warren said.