Girls Basketball 2008-2009
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With the addition of Gary Peterson as the new varsity head coach, the girls’ basketball team looks to make a fast break into the new season. After the difficulties of last year’s coaching debacle, the girls went to the state tournament and lost in the first round to Fairfield Warde.
“They are really strong and we played a good game, so last season actually went pretty well at the end,” said Captain Liz Calby. After all the happenings of last year, the tri-captains, Katie Meehan, Caroline Boulton and Liz Calby, have a positive attitude to kick off 2008. “We are not usually one of the top teams in the FCIAC so we don’t expect to win against the best teams but we are going to try really hard and hopefully end up with some unexpected wins,” Caroline Boulton said.
The team this year is young, with only two varsity players returning. These girls will look to the underclassmen to contribute. “We're looking to a couple of our sophomores (Nicole Buch and Liz Murphy) as well as the entire junior class to step up and make a difference on this team,” Calby said.
The only two seniors on the team are two captains: Caroline Boulton and Katie Meehan “they play with high intensity and have taken on leadership roles as captains,” Calby said. The team lost a lot of good players last year. “We lost the whole starting line up from last year so not that many of us have that much playing experience. Everyone will need to prove that they belong on this team and on the court,” Boulton said.
The girls’ team is defensively oriented and will score a large number of points off of the fast break. They must play to these strengths to make some noise in the league. The team’s main weakness is its ability to score in the half court offense. The main strength of the team is to score points off the fast break and to keep the tempo up. Since they are defensively oriented team, other teams in the league will have a tough time scoring against them.
Gary Peterson was the assistant coach last year until the head coach got fired, and is expected to be a strong head coach. Unlike his predecessor, Coach Peterson has responded well to the players and knows where the girls need to focus. “We are working on our weaknesses and trying to make our strengths stronger,” says Calby.
An unconfirmed source says the last coach had problems with working the team hard, but believes the new coach will have a positive effect on not only the team, but the future of the Darien program. “I think overall Coach will have a positive effect on not only our team, but the future of the Darien program.” Hopefully with the help of this new coach the Darien Basketball Program will get better. In the past, the program as a whole was not up to the standards of what the people in the town wanted to see. “It is going to be a rebuilding year for our program,” said Captain Katie Meehan, the new coach will certainly help with that. The players know what they have to do to win and are looking to do really well this season.
With the memories of the old coach in the rearview mirror for the team, they are preparing for the season ahead, which started on December 10th against the New Canaan Rams. The team is ready to leave it all on the court and be contenders in the FCIAC and State tournaments.
