Junior Varsity and Varsity first basketball games both resulted in a clean sweep by the Huskies.

The first games of the season were both non-leaguers, but JV dominated 93-22 and Varsity beat West Adams 67-43. Their most recent records are 8-2 for JV and 8-3 for Varsity. As every team does, they have their strengths and their weaknesses that play out in practices and games. They also all share a common idea of how they want to play and advance in the league. That common idea is influenced by their motto¨ One Team. One Goal,¨ implemented by coaches, including Coach Donovan Womack. 

Together, each team is quite a force to be reckoned with. Huskies “ won the first game by a lot, so I think we did well at playing in transition and didn’t do too well at rebounding,” #20, shooting guard, Lucas Gonzales on JV explains. Number 2, Brenden Simson on Varsity also pointed out their strengths of “pushing the pace and having our energetic spots in moments that change the course of the game.” Although the coach believes that they “haven’t even scratched the surface on how good we could be.”  

Almost everyday in practice, they are continuously pushing themselves through a series of situations. Gonzales and Simson both believe that they benefit in practices,skill wise, ”because of the drills that we do that will help us improve our shooting/ defense/ ball handling, etc.” Simson adds that they “have competitive scrimmages, to see how different players play together and stimulate real game scenarios to see what we should work on.” As they say,“Practice makes Perfect”, or at least gives confidence. 

The games are successful because of the mindsets and thoughts that push them to work harder. Simson recognizes that “it is basically running through everyone’s mind that we had to start our season off strong and set the tone for the upcoming months, after waiting, we finally have a chance to win the D3 championship this year.” Coach expresses that he likes “my guys to be able to show a level of confidence that they can play their own game inside of my system.” 

These games made for a glorious start to the basketball season and will continue to do so. As they “prepare to live up to the expectations and shock the city,” as Simson declares, we will root for and encourage the fight of the blue, gray, and white.

Recently, varsity made it to the playoffs, everything they worked for, out on the court. They flew to victory their first two games, but unfortunately went through a tough loss against Garfield High School. It was truly a great season with a tough ending for the huskies. Here’s to the next one!