BY Leonardo Cervantes
Staff Writer
Assistant coach Wilbert Knight of the Women’s Basketball team talked about how he felt the team performed this past season. He spoke about how he envisions the team will succeed next season.
He also talked about the difficulties of practicing while in quarantine. Turner told the team about workouts that require no equipment as well as agility workouts.
He said it has been tough not to be around the team because he is not able to work with the girls on their game. Knight and the rest of the coaching staff viewed this season as a success as they made it to the second round of the playoffs.
The team was plagued with injuries right from the beginning but that did not stop them from succeeding. The team had multiple double-digit scorers due to the fact everyone had an opportunity to play.
They played as a team and believed in one another and that led to consistent scoring from everybody.
At times the team only had five or six healthy bodies and two players were not even able to play due to the multitude of injuries.
The season was frustrating and difficult but because they fought through so much coach Knight gave the season an A grade.
If the season is to resume next semester the coaching staff wants the players to focus on strength and conditioning.
That is the main focus because it leads to sustained health, improves on-court performance, and can even help prevent injuries.
If a player happens to get injured their improved conditioning will allow them to return sooner rather than later.
They have five returning players for next season and expect them to come back improved. The coaching staff doesn’t have unrealistic goals for next season.
They know the players will start off rusty due to an elongated break from basketball.
Nevertheless, they have lofty goals for the team if basketball is able to resume. The main goal next season is to win the conference and make it to the playoffs.
They plan on making it to the state playoffs. Coach Knight says winning the state championship is always on your mind but stressed that you can’t look ahead.
You can’t take shortcuts; you have to take it one game at a time. This past season the team was plagued with injuries and still made the playoffs so with a year of improvement of the returning players a state title is not out of queston said Knight.
The coaching staff expects a big year from point guard Delilah Kimble-Gray but also expects all of the returnees to have breakout seasons.
They want all of the players to return as improved versions of themselves from last season.
The basketball season is still to be determined since the COVID-19 pandemic has been canceling seasons for other sports. Nonetheless this is a resilient team that faced adversity all year so the coaches believe they can have a successful season.