What does it take to win a championship, or even better a back-to-back championship? Let’s take a closer look into the 2022 – 2023 basketball season. With amazing coaches like Irma Gonzalez, Troy Peterson, and Tim Cox it made the back-to-back successes a little easier. The girl’s overall season record was 21-10 and when most were asked they all agreed that their team chemistry and bond that they had built up from summer ball to fall ball is the true reason we ultimately won them the championship.
The lead scorer for last season was Charlotte Dagnino averaging 13.6 points per game. When asked what she believed she could do better, she responded “ I think I could have put more time into getting better last season, I settled for the bare minimum and I don’t think that benefited me or the team”. Her brutal honesty is what will help her be even more of a power tool for the next season to come. The girls played some great teams and had some truly amazing games with double overtime and always keeping everyone on their toes. Jaslene Crow, the only freshman on varsity, stated “ I think we played very well but at some points, we doubted ourselves and our ability to play the game we all love”. Many other girls on the team agreed with this statement and said this season they wish to have more confidence and just play the game that they have all trained to play. Point guard Ruby Felix even said, “Overall I believe that the season went better than I had expected it to. It would get a bit rocky at times, but we would push through and overall we got the job done and accomplished our goals”. This season the girls hope to keep working on their skills while gaining more team confidence.
As you know, as seasons end, the senior players graduate, unfortunately star player Baylee Johnson left for college. She believes that this was one of their best seasons in a long time with a few challenges in the way that helped them get better for playoffs. Assistant coach Troy Peterson stated, “This year we had a few different injuries and we hadn’t had that in awhile so we had to learn to push through that and keep moving forward”. This year the hopes are that the old injuries get healed and the girls stay well and healthy all season. Of Course, another big factor in the girl’s season was the fans. Many don’t know, but the Palo Verde fans are a big reason why home games usually go so well. The fans here are top notch, and without them, the success of home games would not have been as good. Overall, all of these factors helped the girls with their back-to-back success and we hope the girls can have another successful season and bring home another banner.
