The girls Varsity basketball team is currently 11-5 overall and 1-0 in district after their 42-26 win over Westlake, to start District play.
Varsity coach Vickie Benson is optimistic for the rest of the season.
“We are hopeful to repeat a district championship and go to the playoffs,” Benson said. “This is the best team I have had at the Varsity level since coming to Bowie.”
The players are also optimistic for the coming games because of the team’s significant wins so far this season.
“We’ve won some pretty big games. We beat the defending 4A state champions and that was big, then we won our first district game,” sophomore Kianna Ray said.
Freshman Savannah Ralph thinks this season’s success may partly be due to the off-court chemistry of the team.
“We work well together, we are really close on and off the court,” Ralph said.
Senior Jada Reilly believes the team has accomplished a lot this season.
“We’ve been doing well so far, and we’ve made a lot of progress,” Reilly said. “We have beat some teams that a lot of people doubted we could beat. I think we’re really coming together as a team.”
Kennedy Godsey believes the team has become better this season and will continue to improve.
“The Lady Dawgs basketball program continues to get better each year,” Godsey said. “I’m excited to see how much we better will be in the future.”
A group of four boys have been playing with the girls during practice to help them improve their skills.
Junior Austin Davis is one of the boys who occasionally plays with the girls in practice and he thinks the extra help will improve the team’s overall play.
“We force the girls to play with high energy to match our pressure so they can be ready to deal with the pressure they will face the next day at the game,” Davis said.
The players are thankful for the boys and their help to make the team fiercer competitors.
“The basketball game that guys play is a whole lot different from the girls,” Ralph said. “They really challenge us in practice to make us better.”
Reilly thinks the boys help the team because they help they force the girls to make quicker decisions on the court.
“I think our practice with the boys is very helpful,” Reilly said. “They are quicker and stronger than us which makes us have to think faster, react faster, and be stronger with the ball.”
The team has been working hard and they believe that hard work will pay off throughout the remainder of the season.
“I’m very optimistic for the rest of the season,” Reilly said. “I think we have a very talented team and we will surprise a lot of people this season.”
Kianna Ray believes their hard work is enough to take the team to state this year.
“Our confidence is high right now,” Ray said. “I have no doubt that we have the ability to make it to state.”