Over this past weekend, girls varsity basketball won their first tournament of the season, winning all five games.

“With tons of practice and preparation before our games began, we were able to win all five games to start the season. We beat Phillips 78-33, Loyola 65-59, Hyde Park 59-28, Harlan 54-50, and Bogan 68-64 in a thrilling overtime win after being down as many as 11 points,” said senior guard Daniela Sirott.

Senior guard Maggie Murdock, said, “Everyone has a role on the team and is able to contribute when needed. That’s what made this tournament so awesome to start the year.”

The overtime win over Bogan was really a special victory. A come from behind win like that shows signs of good things to come for the team this year.

“The team is looking pretty solid this year. We have so many amazing players who contribute in their own way, making for a collaborative and meaningful environment. We have great team chemistry and really push ourselves to get better for the girls next to us,” said senior forward Nicole Kaspi.

Senior team manager, Renuka Komlofske said because the team has so many returning players, there’s a lot of chemistry.

“We have perfect lineups for every situation we could be in. We all have a great bond because many of us have known and played together for about 6 years.”

The team layed out goals from the beginning of the year for what they want to accomplish this year. They want to go to state and win it, but there is much more than that for this team.

“We have three musts each game, have fun, be supportive, and play your hardest every time out there,” said Kaspi. She said that these simple goals help the team to get better every game.

“We then work up from these daily goals on to talking about winning conference, winning state, and having a fulfilling season with no regrets.”

Komlofske said that the goals are to learn how to play hard from the get go in a game and to make sure that the team is enjoying what they are doing.

Upcoming games include this Friday against main rival, Evanston, and on Tuesday against Maine South.

The game on Friday is at Evanston starting at 7.

“Hopefully our green team comes and supports us on Friday. It’s a big rivalry game for us so the support us out there,” Sirott said.

The team has ten returning players and adding three new players. It’s one of the smaller teams in the league, but size doesn’t matter considering how close they are on and off the court.

“We have such a close team and we have played together for so long that it’s so fun and enjoyable to play with these girls. To win the state title this year would mean everything to me and the rest of the girls on the team,” Kaspi said.