The girls basketball team got back onto the court after their fourth state title in a row last night, starting off the season at the Fort Zumwalt West Preseason Jamboree. The games would only be considered scrimmages, but that doesn’t mean that the team didn’t take them seriously as head coach Jill Nagel did her best to keep the team focused.
“I thought we played well with a new team,” Nagel said. “It really became a matter of understanding what went right and what went wrong, but we did a good job in the end and I’m proud of the team for that.”
Last year the team graduated all-district players Sophie Cunningham, Cierra Porter, and Carly Offerdahl, but the team hasn’t lowered their ambitions for this year’s season.
“We still want to win a state championship, simple as that. We’re capable of it, too,” Nagel said, “so now it’s up to us to learn from our preseason and make the best of what we have which is a talented squad.”
One of the keys to winning games this year will be the Bruins’ younger talent, as sophomores Payton McCallister and Katey Klucking started during the Jamboree. Klucking wanted to play great basketball at Fort Zumwalt West, but remembered it was a learning experience.
“We did well considering it was the first time we played someone besides ourselves,” Klucking said. “We did a lot of great things, and we didn’t make mistakes but we didn’t expect for it to be perfect.”
Of course with a new starting lineup comes with a new style of basketball that girls will play this year, but the team is still young and looking for ways to improve and make a run at a fifth consecutive state title.
“We played good team basketball and looked for easy ways to score,” Klucking said, “but now we’re picking up the intensity in practice and pushing each other every day so that we can have an awesome season this year.”