by Andrew Mannix
Coming into the season with a young team has been tough for girls’ basketball, 1-2, but the team is working hard to improve, according to junior Ednaija Lassiter, a captain with senior Amanda Ortiz and junior Jill Latanowich.
After winning their opener against Walpole, the Tigers fell to Milton and Natick, failing to score 50 points in both of those games.
Despite the difficult start, Lassiter acknowledges that the year is young, and there is plenty of room to improve.
“The season at the moment isn’t going as well as we would like it to, but we have a ton of work to do and every game and practice we learn and we’re improving, which is the most important part.”
Some of those areas in need of improvement are the team’s overall defense, rebounding, and finishing on lay-ups, according to coach Linda Martindale.
Martindale is aware of the youth on the team and that not everything is going to come easily as it would with a veteran team.
“This is a building year for us,” said Martindale. “We are a very young team and face some strong opponents early on so we are focusing on fundamentals and team defense”.
Although the team is young and has gotten off to a difficult start, it is clear that the team is looking in a positive direction
“Win or lose we all put a smile on each other’s faces and there isn’t any finger pointing. said Lassiter. We just come in the gym the next day and try to work it all out. I think what will make us a better team as the season goes on is how hard we work for one another. There are no individuals on this team”.
The Tigers goals are to “stay mentally tough, stay together as a team, improve each week, and enjoy the process – even when it’s difficult,” said Martindale.
Lassiter echoed Martindale’s statement. “Our team goal for the year is just to prove the naysayers wrong. From the beginning people have said we haven’t had a chance and we just want to prove to people wrong,” she said.
After tonight’s game against Braintree, the Tigers will be off for the holidays. They will be back in action with two games in the first week of January with games against Weymouth and Brookline on Tuesday, Jan. 6 and Friday, Jan. 9, respectively.