One trademark of a good team is perseverance under seemingly unbeatable odds and the campus varsity girls’ basketball team displays this quality in abundance.

The girls opened their season at the Santa Maria Tournament during Dec. 2-4. Even though the girls were relatively unsuccessful during the tournament, they have already improved their record, beating Laton 42-31 on Dec. 7.

“During the tournament we were just down too far to come back,” Traci High, girls’ basketball coach, said. “Though it was a tough loss in terms of points, it was a moral victory because of how hard we played.”

High was more concerned with building the girls’ character than the number of wins they earned.

“Our final results do not accurately depict the way our season will go because all the teams we played were at a higher level,” High said. “This tournament is always more about team growth and character building than anything else.”

Encouragement was not in short supply during the tournament.

“We played well together,” Carina Moran, ’05, said. “When one person was down, there was always somebody there to encourage them.”

A quality that each team strives to achieve is unity.

“As a team we played okay, but more importantly we learned how to play together,” Brittnee Masiello, ’06, said. “Because of our performance at the tournament, I am excited for the rest of our season.”

Players’ attitudes during a game can sometimes indicate a good or bad outcome.

“The more unified we are, the better we will play,” Bonnie Hansen, ’07, said. “We need to keep a positive attitude and not let ourselves feel down.”

Reflexes are among the many things that the girls will work on throughout the season in order to improve their game.

“We need to work on being quicker to react,” Masiello said. “We also need to work on our free throws.”

Moran believes the team has the ability to do well this year.

“I’m definitely looking forward to achieving our goal for the year: winning league,” Moran said. “I think that if we play our hardest and believe that we can do it, then we will get far.”

The girls will next host CVC Dec. 14 at 7 P.M.