As of Feb. 4, the current record for the girls basketball team this season is 4-4 overall, and 3-4 in section. The team went up against their section rival, Laurel, on Feb. 4 where they lost 55-58. That game started off the second half of their season. The girls have six games left, with five of those being section games. Being that the pandemic set back the team by about eight weeks, they are coming back strong. They hope to continue to be vigorous in their games and make it to the playoffs. 

The girls basketball team is part of the section 3A, and every game counts. Even when the team takes a loss, they still strive to be better the next game. 

“We’ve had our ups and down with different teams, but I think that we can continue to improve going into the next games. Even in the games we lost I feel like if we play those teams again then we could beat them the second time around. It just comes down to working together as a team and doing the best we can in each and every game,” sophomore Julia Mohrbacher said. 

Although Freedom players don’t have to wear masks while playing at home, other schools ask that they wear their masks while playing against them. Wearing a mask during a game is hard for some, yet they oblige in order to keep the safety of other teams and themselves. 

“I totally understand why schools do make us wear a mask because, again, we are in a global pandemic. I think that it is just respectful that we follow the rules of the schools we play at. The masks only affect the team because we are used to playing games without them, so we get more tired when we do wear them,” junior Grace White said.

Rolling into the end of the season and playoffs, the girls have to catch up after setbacks. They continue to work hard and focus on games ahead, especially as they begin to play teams for the second time. 

“We are finally getting to the point where the pieces are starting to fall into place. We should have been there about eight weeks ago but this pandemic set us back. We finally have people believing in the system, trusting their teammates and becoming team players,” head coach John Kaercher said.

Although practices are slowing down, the team is still getting in as many hours as possible. 

“I think this season is going well considering we only get a certain amount of hours in the gym due to covid regulations. Last year our practices were two hours every day besides Sunday.  But now, we can not practice on the weekends or Friday,” junior Olivia Evans said. 

When the section games wrap up, the girls basketball team will prepare for the playoffs. They have high goals for this season and hope to go far. 

“Hopefully, the players keep working to get better and get a fire deep down inside to steamroll into the playoffs instead of sliding in,” Kaercher said. “Winning breeds winning. Losing breeds discouragement.”