This Friday, McLean girls varsity basketball pulled out a win against Langley. The win has been sought after for a while, and the senior players on the team especially recognize the significance of it.

“My favorite memory [from the season] will most likely be beating Langley last week,” and senior player Caroline Lewis said. “For the seniors, it was a long time coming and we were so excited to finally get the W.”

“[We were so excited], finally beating Langley and winning the rotary cup,” senior Vanessa Barlow said. “The team definitely deserved it.”

Beyond the big win, the team has been having a strong season overall, though they have experienced ups and downs. They will be going to districts on the 14th and are currently seeded at third in the district. The team’s record overall is 10-10, and their conference record is 7-5, which is what matters for district tournament seeding.

The team’s strengths have shown themselves in their defense this year, which much of the team’s success has come from.

“Our defense is very good this year, and I think we can attribute it to our unity as a team,” Lewis said. “We also have very talented offensive players, but we are still working on playing a consistent two halves of solid offense. A lot of times we’ll play a good overall game, but fall short for a quarter offensively. Against a good team, that can hurt us.”

Barlow agrees that the team has things to work on, but makes clear that the strong sense of unity and a positive mentality has kept the team doing well.

“We have had some ups and downs as our record shows, but we play hard and work hard every time we step on the court,” Barlow said. “Our greatest strength is our mentality. When we aren’t making all of our shots or calls aren’t going our way, we make up for it through defense and hustle.”

The team will continue to districts in the next two weeks, and hopes to advance in that tournament. Their next games are Tuesday, February 7 against Fairfax, which will be their senior night. On February 10, the team will play Madison. They hope to pull out wins against those teams as well, and continue their strong season.