On Jan. 27th, the McLean Girls Varsity basketball team hosted their senior night at home against the Wakefield Warriors, improving their record to 12 wins and 7 losses.
“I thought it was great that the seniors got a chance to be recognized for their contribution to the team and to talk about their futures in front of a large crowd,” head coach Jen Sobota said.
Finishing their senior night off with a strong win, The Highlanders beat Wakefield 56-42, with a big crowd wildly cheering on the seniors the entire night.
“Our high energy was the main factor towards our win,” senior guard Kara Bremser said. “The intensity on both offense and defense helped us a lot. It was especially exciting playing in front of a huge crowd cheering us on.”
The Highlanders had the expectation that this should be a walk in the park for them, considering Wakefield is below them in the district rankings, but Wakefield took the lead early on with a strong offensive performance.
“At the start of the game, we felt pretty good,” sophomore center Vilte Kacerauskaite said. “We began trailing to them because we already had the expectation that winning would be easier.”
Senior point guard Shushan Krikorian was fouled out, but she still played a vital role in bringing the Highlanders back, having four three-pointers in the game.
“In the end, we lost our main point guard, Shushan,” Kacerauskaite said. “We stayed packed as a team and didn’t let them get past us.”
Though getting a victory on senior night over Wakefield was a great and memorable win, especially for the seniors, it can be an emotional experience at times for players who have spent their entire high school career on the team. The night celebrated senior Brooke Thomas as well as Bremser and Krikorian, commemorating their high school careers coming to an end.
“Some of my favorite memories playing basketball for Mclean High School has been going to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and playing new competition in different states,” Bremser said. “Team bonding activities with my teammates will also for sure be one of my favorite memories when I leave McLean.”
Now the team has clear-cut goals set ahead of them; they are looking to make a strong playoff run and aim for a championship.
“We are setting our goals high every year, which is to win the conference championship,” said Kacerauskaite.
Winning a conference championship is a task this team has on their agenda, no matter what. In the past three years, the Highlanders have fallen just short of a conference championship.
“At the beginning of every season, we talk about goals as individuals and goals as a team,” Sobota said. “The team has set a goal of winning a conference championship this year. We spend a lot of time in practice breaking down elements of our offense and defense in order to be successful or more successful the next time we play.”
The Highlanders will take their home court again on Feb. 3 to take on Yorktown.
