Nearly 60 Lady Rams spent Nov. 10 and 11 dribbling, passing, and shooting, hoping to impress Highland’s coaches.
“Tryouts were good, we had a good turnout,” head basketball coach Jeremy Chatterton said. “People worked hard. I think it was surprising for some, just in terms of how hard we actually work.”
Tryouts are set up so that all of the girls trying out for the freshman team are together, and all of the girls trying out for the varsity squad are together. Coaches and captains led the girls through a variety of drills, looking for the ones with the most talent, work ethic, and team spirit.
“We obviously want the players who know how to play, but along with that we want players who will be able to work with each other and be part of a team because that is so critical in what we do as a team,” Chatterton said.
Tuesday night, the coaches deliberated over which girls they thought would bring the most to the team. Wednesday morning, the list was taped to the basketball trophy case, pleasing many, but also breaking a few hearts.
This years varsity squad is a mix of many faces, old and new. The returners include: seniors Halla Harris, Meleseini Fonua, Sylvia Schulte, and captain Jasmine Hansgen; juniors Aspen Brady, Lea Havili, Jane Lotubai, and Nani Tonga; and sophomores Alex Debow, Macy Wilson, and Jade Huntsman.
New members include: junior Marlee Machon, a transfer from Juan Diego, sophomores Kylee Denison, Andrea Steele — both members of last year’s freshman team –and Cecilia Foster, and freshmen Misini Fifita, Taryn Johnson, Paige Koeven, and Svetlana Olevao.
“I’m excited. I want to do well, and there’s a lot of good girls on the team, so there’s a lot of talent. I think we are going to do really well,” Foster said.
Last year, the Lady Rams had their best season in several years. They went from losing almost every game to being third in the region and making it to the state tournament. The seven seniors who made up a large part of that team graduated last year, and that’s why so many new girls were added to the roster this season.
“I think that even though we lost several good seniors last year, we’ve got some great new girls joining as well as old ones from last year. I think this season is going to be great as long as we all work really hard as a team and become better,” Debow said.
Chatterton is looking forward to the season, and feels good about the girls who were chosen to be on the team.
“We don’t set our goal as winning a specific amount of games. Obviously we want to win as many as we can, but our goal is always just to get better as the season progresses, and I think we have a group that’s going to work hard to do that. We have a lot of people who will have more expectations put on them, and so I think that is a big part of this season and I am excited to see how they’re going to respond to that,” Chatterton said.