The Freedom Bulldogs Girls Basketball Team began their season with a scrimmage against Central Valley on Nov. 23. They will continue their regularly scheduled season through the beginning of Feb., with their last game against Laurel on Feb. 6. The team is captained by returning players and seniors Olivia Henderson (12), Annabelle Komlos (12) and Riley Tokar (12), with starters being Henderson, Tokar, Komlos, Brianne Casto (11) and Mackenzie Mohrbacher (11). With the loss of a few starters and seniors from years past, the team is looking to adapt to remain as strong as they were previously.
Last season, the five consistent starting players were Shaye Bailey, Cassidy Harris, Morgan Keller, Henderson and Mohrbacher. The team came up a little short compared to the year before, making it to the first round of playoffs, but ultimately, falling short of the next round.
Starting off this season, the girls’ basketball team is full of hope with new drills and targeting objectives to make the team stronger and more put together.
“Compared to recent years at practice, we have a lot less downtime and more motion going around, with making sure everyone is being involved even when girls are on the sideline and coaching them how to apply this in games and approaching everything learned, in a game situation,” Head Coach John Kaercher said.
Kaercher believes that the hardest matchups the Bulldogs will face in their section are Aliquippa, Rochester and Neshannock. These teams have acquired several talented players to the court throughout the years, but with the teams’ positivity, hard work and talent, the Bulldogs can persevere and finish strong.
The team brought many new faces to the court to fill in shoes and complete the team. The new freshmen brought to the court are Kendra Conner, Gracy Specht, Kandis Altvatter and Jaylyn Gaiton. Compared to middle school, high school basketball has been a change for some.
“Middle school was a lot easier in the sense of learning fewer positions with few plays and compared to high school there are many more plays to learn and having to know more positions because of the substitutions,” Gaiton said. “If there is a chance to get subbed in for varsity, you have to know their plays and positions too.”
With hopes of making it further than the first round of playoffs, the Freedom Girls Basketball Team is hopeful of an exciting season by implementing various adjustments, improvements and motivated spirits.