Having good chemistry within a team plays a huge role in the success that the team achieves. For the Chieftain girls basketball team, chemistry has come easy in the first few games of the season. 

“The team has very great chemistry; we all play for each other. We all put in 100% of our effort all the time. It just doesn’t always go as planned sometimes,” sophomore Haley Kube said.

Despite the strong chemistry, the team started the season with a 2-2 record. 

“In our jamboree game, we had a bit of trouble making our shots and being physical, but we were able to pull out the win for a good start to the season,” sophomore Ellie Lloyd said. 

Their first official game of the season had a good fight to Elmwood-Murdock, but the Knights finished stronger with the score of 29-39.  The Chieftains had another close loss of 30-32 to Lincoln Christian the next night. 

“A big thing that weighed us down in the Lincoln Christian game was our fouling,” Lloyd said. 

The Chieftains came back the next week to win their third game, finishing 54-27 against Arlington. 

“We were able to go at a faster pace and had a lot more intensity,” Kube said. 

The Chieftains have seen good and bad out on the court in the start of their season. 

“I think one of our weaknesses is executing plays and finishing them. We struggle with being aggressive inside and not having enough confidence on the outside,” junior Laycee Josoff said. 

The lack of confidence on the team has led to players shooting less. 

“We’re not a very strong shooting team yet, which is disappointing. We haven’t had very good scoring, which kind of goes along with the shooting. That’s probably about it though,” Kube said.

Despite a rocky start, the team has high hopes for what is to come. After looking back at their first few games, players can see where they need the extra help.

“I think we’ll be able to execute more and we’ll get our scores higher than what they are and our stats will be better,” Josoff said. 

These players have seen where they want to improve and are motivated to do so. 

“I think we are going to be a team that continually gets better as the season progresses…We’re a good team that has potential to be great if we stay the course and embrace everyday as an opportunity to get better,” head coach Clay Carlton said.