By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

AURORA, Ore.–  For the five returning Varsity players in Clara Miller, Shay Coello, Rebecca Rand, Riley Patzer and Trinity Christenson, they know they’ll have to step up as leaders this Fall.  

Replacing the seven seniors that had recently graduated from their 12-7, 4A State Appearance team.  It’ll be a newish looked team nonetheless, but as they went to work in Open Gym Wednesday, the goal is the same:

Return to the postseason.

“I want to go to State, I want to return to State.  I know that Clara, one of our other seniors, wants to go to State too.  We just want to make a deep run,” Coello said.

Coello, Christienson and Miller are going to be three of the seniors on the squad this year for a Huskie squad that has been steadily improving through the past few years and becoming a playoff regular.

With the five, they’ll have their hands full in stepping up as leaders on the court.  Preparing for a new league as they return to the Oregon West Conference after spending the past few seasons in the Tri-Valley Conference.

Rand was helping out a bit at the start of the session as the junior took what she learned from the seniors before her and incorporated that into how she can lead now as an upperclassman.

“It’s very different.  Learning from the seniors last season, it was a lot more intense and this year I’m trying to step up.  I took notes from those seniors because they taught me a lot.  They taught me how to be a leader and be a captain, so I’m trying to take what they taught me which was kindness and how to be nice to my team and be respectful and work hard.  So I’m trying to do that with these girls and teach them that’s how we should be doing,” said Rand.

And with the season starting up here in six weeks or so, the Open Gyms leading up to their first official practice will go a long way in helping them build team chemistry and some momentum into the season.

“I think it’s going to help us a lot.  If you know your teammates better…the better we get to know them and the better they’ll trust us and we have a better chance of getting to play together the right way,” said Coello.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald