After months of off-season workouts, the Lady Woodmen basketball team is back and ready for a new season.

They have the Johnson Country tournament tomorrow at 7 p.m.

“I think this season is going to be good. We have had a lot of tough off-season workouts, but I think these workouts made our team better as a whole. We have a lot of rough teams on our schedule, so there is going to be some good competition,” senior Emma Gardner, center, said.

Most of the players have said it is going to be a young team.

“The only thing that is a bit different from last year is that we have a young team with only six upperclassmen coming in. We have a new Sectional so that will be pretty interesting,” junior point Eliana Anderson, guard, said.

Anderson talked about how the dynamic of the team is better than it has ever been before.

“This team dynamic is crazy good because we are all friends off the court, so the team chemistry is better than it has ever been before.  We all get along super well and help each other when we all need it. We all just work together very well,” she said.

Effort is key when playing a sport.

“I think everything will go very well as long as everyone puts in effort, which was an issue from last year. I feel like everyone  just gave up when things would get hard, for example losing a game to a really good team would set some of us back and make us feel we were not good enough in a way,” junior  Zaire Gillis, guard, said.

With the new season, there  is to anticipate.

“I am looking forward to seeing how much our team grows. I also look forward to some of the younger kids turning into leaders at the end. It is so crazy how much the JV team grows and changes around the end of their first or second season. They turn into young role models and people I would want to surround myself with,” Gardner said. 

Gillis also talked about what she is most excited about.

“I’m looking forward to making new connections with the freshmen. I am excited to make new memories with all of my teammates and friends. I am scared of all the seniors leaving because they are the ones who I have had a good relationship with, but I am excited to take leadership and help guide the younger girls,” she said. 

They definitely have some hard competition but there’s some they are dying to beat.

“I really want to beat Whiteland. I think if we can beat them we can beat most of our competition and hopefully make it to state,” Gillis said.
Anderson talked about the team’s biggest strength.

“I really think our team’s biggest strength is our communication and how we all get along so well with one another.We are all friends off the court so it has became one of our biggest strengths,” she said.