The girls’ basketball team finished their season on Feb. 18 after losing in the first round of the playoffs.

The girls finished their regular season three days before with an 8-11 record.

Coach Darren Jones said that the team’s best moments occurred when all players were healthy, but that there were too many injuries this season.

“We had one senior who was hurt, so she didn’t continue playing,” said Coach Jones. “We lost her during the season.”

Coach Jones also explained that prospects are strong for next season since his strongest players, sophomore Mikah Aldridge and sophomore Aneisha Hardin, will still be on the team next season.

He also explained that persevering through the injuries, running more often and developing a stronger defense were some of the challenges this season.

Coach Jones said, “The strength of the team is that the players are very athletic.” Speed and ball handling skills were two of their strengths. Weaknesses included shooting and playing as a team.”

During the end of the season our girls came together,” said Jones. “They started to trust each other and to understand the structure of [the game] and how to never give up.”

Junior Terrina Robinson said that her best moment of the game was her first game on Jan 4.

Robinson described the greatest challenges of the season: “…adjusting to new coaches and fewer players, and then we lost two players due to acedemic reasons.”

She described experience as one of the strengths of the team.

“We didn’t do well this year, but next season we are going to do better because we are going to work together and get more in shape,” said Robinson.

Most of the injuries this season were ankle injuries.  In the future, the team will do more strength training and wear ankle braces to prevent injury.

For next season Coach Jones said, “I am preparing by doing basketball clinics, weight lifting, individual workouts and we are working on our defense.”