This year, the Lovejoy girls basketball team changed some things up with a new coach and a new desire to destroy all of their competition. They finished first in the district with a record of 13-1.
“I think this season’s success was from us coming together as a team and embracing getting a new coach,” junior Peyton Novicke said. “With the new season came lots of hard work and team bonding.”
Lojo girl’s basketball hired a new coach, Joseph Miller, to help push the team to become successful. With the team and coach working together, their work has clearly paid off.
“Coach Miller helped our team chemistry become better than ever this season,” senior Breeanna Hoffman said. “Getting to work every day has helped us earn each of our wins.”
In addition to the change in leadership, the Leopards have been changing a lot since their last season. This year, the team brought up the majority of JV players and focused on working on each player’s accountability.
“This season, there’s been a lot of change for our team,” Hoffman said. “Our team chemistry and work ethic has definitely changed for the better.”
The team has been dedicated to improving themselves both individually and as a team. They have consistent practices after school, and the players spend extra time outside of practice to work on their own.
“Usually, I practice every day and have training on Thursdays, Wednesdays and all weekend,” senior Sidney Carr said. “It can vary depending on my schedule though.”
The Leopard’s hard training and time spent focusing on skill showed in all of their games, but especially when playing Melissa and McKinney North. In the game against McKinney North, Lovejoy won with a score of 57-42, and in the game against Melissa, they scored 45-35.
“Our most recent game was probably one of the best games we have played,” Carr said. “We had some ups and downs in the first half, but we came out ready to play and finish the game in the second half, which led us to winning.”
With the district games having come to an end after Lovejoy destroyed Sherman in the final game, Lovejoy has come out on top as first in the districts, for the first time since 2011.
“The team goal was being district champions, and we have been able to accomplish that,” Novicke said. “Now we are gonna strive to go as far in the playoffs as possible.”
