Coach Fox Discusses Girls’ Basketball at Season’s Halfway Point

By Hayley Harrison, Dunn Student Journalist

Girls’ Basketball had two games on January 13th and 15th against Laguna Blanca and Thatcher respectively. At the halfway point of the the season, we caught up with Coach Laura Fox and asked where she sees the team.

“I won't lie, it's been a rough road,” said Coach Fox. “We keep coming up against these teams that just have so much more height and experience than we do, and it's been really frustrating.” However, “regardless of the score,” Coach Fox told us, “we never give up and we always hustle. I’m not just saying that either.”

The girls lost 23 to 35 against Laguna Blanca, which so far is their best game of the season. The score was very close for the majority of the game and all of the girls showed a lot more intensity than any other game this year, particularly Senior Katey Gillispie. “She out-rebounded everyone on the court and made 90% of her free throws, the best percentage of anyone this season,” said Coach Fox.

Katey said that the other team intimidated her at first, but with some encouragement from Coach Fox, she and the rest of the team fought back with force. Katey relived the moment when she took a bad hit to the face and had to step out. “Mr. Martin, our Athletic Director, was really nice to me; he said ‘I know it’s tough kid, but you gotta buck up and get back in there,’ and it turned out to be one of my best games ever.”

The girls struggled more against Thatcher, ending with a 15 to 42 loss. But Nikole Layton commented again on the increased aggression of the team, as things got pretty heated on the court. Katey Gillispie pointed to Nikole as a key presence on the court. “She was really reminding us of what we had been practicing; she’s great as a point guard.”

“Our last two games against Laguna and Thatcher have shown huge improvement,” Coach Fox continues. “We have started to move beyond basic fundamentals and actually implement an offence that is showing off our instincts as a team.” Coach Fox singles out Nikole Layton, Tiffany V., and Alex Jones as her continuous top players. “Although she’s just a freshmen, Alex is showing a great deal of promise.” But the player that is surprising Coach Fox the most is Janet Yu, showing a “tremendous amount of aggression on defense. She has good instincts for where the ball is going and has an impressive amount of steals.”¬¬ Coach Fox stated that she wants to refine the team’s offense by becoming more physical and work on perfecting the box out technique. “We never want the opponent to get off more than one shot. If we can shut them down on the boards, I think we will be surprised at what a difference it makes.”

The team seems poised to continue improving and, as Coach Fox said, “the girls never give up.”