Over the summer Girls’ Basketball Head Coach Janae Sims resigned.  Recently retired boy’s varsity coach Mike Lovelace stepped into the position. “I think it’s definitely going to be very different,” says Abby Yuan (‘25).  “Janae had a large pull with a lot of people, because she was the head coach and now she’s gone…but I feel it’s also a new opportunity to grow as a program.”  

Just like many other sports, Girls’ Basketball’s biggest rival was Pioneer. “Last year I liked playing Pioneer, because that was always a closer game,” says Yuan. “But this year I feel like Huron could also be a closer game because we split with Huron last year.”

One of the main goals for this program is to be able to make it to the district championship this year. “Hopefully we will be able to win districts this year,” says Varsity Player Kennedy Wassef (‘26), “but also we should just have fun mostly.” 

Last year the program lost seven seniors. That includes Jill Boynton (‘23), Maddie Slade (‘23), Ava Perry  (‘23), Autumn Gorman  (‘23), Dylan Schueler (‘23), Rory Brater (‘23), and Grace Hetrick  (‘23). “We lost a lot of people last year but we are also getting a lot of new people this year,” says Yuan. 

More freshmen are wanting to join the program, making it important for seniors to guide underclassmen to success. “I think that they [the freshman] are going to do a really great job,” says Varsity Player Meredith Fischer (‘24). “Just from open gyms and conditioning, everyone has been really motivated and hardworking so far.” 

Coach Lovelace has laid down his expectations for the team. “I think that things will be taken more serious,” says Yuan. 

This program heavily believes in what Lovelace calls, “the cornerstones of success” : passion, confidence, intelligence, and unselfishness. “The culture in the gym is just really great, and all the girls are really supportive,” says Fischer. “Even though last year was my first year, I felt really welcome from the start.”