Before their first game, the varsity basketball girls gathered around head coach Diane Peterson. One by one they went around the circle and shared their goals for the upcoming game.

Then just like every game since, Peterson said a prayer for a healthy and successful game.

Senior Sally Elton and the four other starting seniors took to the court to face St. Vincent De Paul in a game where they would emerge victorious 45-32.

This will be Elton’s third year on varsity, and Ariella Rosenthal’s and Chace Schornstein’s fourth season on the varsity team. The final two starters, seniors Izzy Ingledew and Lauren Hutchinson, will be playing their second season on varsity.

“Definitely having our starting five be seniors just brings so much experience and wisdom,” Elton said.

The team hopes to improve last season’s 8-6 MCAL record by tightening their overall skills on both defense and offense.

“We always work on boxing out and going for rebounds,” Elton said. “We have also been working on passing and double-teaming, so we are more confident on the ball and that we have less turnovers just because there’s more pressure.”

But their strength comes from beyond the six seniors on the team.

“I feel like we have a stronger bench than we have had in the past couple of years,” Elton said. “Especially [Jaiana Harris] stepped up a lot in the past game and scrimmage.”

Sophomore Lauren Watkins, who was also on the team last year, said that being an underclassman on varsity is very intimidating. However, both Watkins and Elton believe the new freshman Harris fits in well with the team and gets along with all of the players, despite her age.

“She has done a very good job of coming into the varsity environment,” Elton said. “As a freshman, that can be very intimidating, and she’s gotten a lot stronger already with her decisions and taking care of the ball. Within the past week of us playing, I’ve already seen her be more confident in her shot and not being afraid of being the one to take it to the basket or take it in her own hands.”

Harris was the second-leading scorer on Tuesday against Montgomery with nine points.

The team had a 2-4 record in preseason as of press time. Their next game is on Saturday December 14th at 1 p.m. against Cardinal Newman High School.