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January 29, 2025
Last season at MBHS, the girls basketball team astonished the CCAA (Central Coast Athletic Association) with their finishing scores of 24-8, winning the Sunset League, and has now moved up this season to the Mountain League. The Mountain League consists of schools ranging from Division 1 to Division 4. Although MBHS’ girls basketball team is based in Division 4, and feels challenged to be playing with teams that are harder than they are used to, they are determined to keep on pushing. The new season and new league brings players immense amounts of drive to play hard, with the feeling of, “We can do that at Morro Bay,” said varsity girls basketball coach Alex Engel.
Expectations for the team this year are higher than ever before, with the team now having to compete with tougher players, “If you put the time in, you're going to give yourself a chance at this,” said Engel. By winning the Sunset League in last year’s season, players now feel like winning the league is more attainable if they put in the hard work. “We spent a lot of time just working on our game and practicing. I mean we practice like 10 months out of the year. Whether it’s summer basketball, springtime, or in the fall, we are preparing for the next season,” said Engel.
Engle’s coaching strategy has not changed now that they are in the Mountain League. He elaborated and said, “The overall way that I coach hasn’t changed - but maybe the way in which I push the players and have the expectation for them to work a little harder has. Since you're playing up against schools with mostly D1 players, as we are a D4 school - you have to be able to compete every night and you can’t really take a day off.”
With most of varsity’s players being underclassmen, they are, “getting thrown into the fire, even if they are a freshman or a sophomore and they’ve never experienced it, they aren’t mopping or working less hard, they just realize that this is the reality to compete and to continue to compete,” said Engel. Putting in the work and the time in order to continue staying in the Mountain League has been a given for the team, all that truly matters is effort.
Girls varsity basketball poses for the camera - Top Row Left to Right: Parker Brigham (10), Makenna Freitas (9), Violet Pace (11), Taylen Robson (10), Shelby Taylor (10) - Bottom Row Left to Right: Lannaiah Zales (12), Zoe Fitzwater (11), Emily Cordes (10), Ella Lobos (9) - Photo Credit: Katy Conlin
Having players on the team such as Violet Pace and Zoe Fitzwater, the team seems able to do whatever they put their mind to. Engel said, “Violet was averaging close to 20 points a game for most of the season… which is the highest I’ve ever had someone average on a team.” Although moving up in leagues may have set back the team a few games, the players are learning about what to change and what to keep in their strategies the more they play, “It’s definitely helped improve the team in general, it shows what we need to work on and then see those things and plan for those challenges,” said Fitzwater, the team’s starting point guard. With the season only having five games left before playoffs, they are warmed up and ready to conquer.
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