Player’s Perspective: Season Recap
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Now that the season is over and the AAU circuit is beginning, I decided to go back and ask players in all 4 classes about how their seasons went, from their perspective. Here are the first couple players! Maddy Weaver…
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Continue ReadingNow that the season is over and the AAU circuit is beginning, I decided to go back and ask players in all 4 classes about how their seasons went, from their perspective. Here are the first couple players!
How do you think your team and yourself performed throughout this season?rn-I don’t think my team performed to our full potential this year, I think we had a lot of talent we just didn’t make all of it click together as a team. But I know that leaves a lot of room to Improve for next year and returning people to improve individually and as a team. I think I preformed really well this season, I was kind of surprised by it honestly. I put in a lot of work in the off season and going into high school I was really just thinking “let’s see where this goes” and it really went far. I averaged a double double and had fun, even though we didn’t always win.
What was the biggest obstacle you and your team faced this season?rn-The biggest obstacle we faced as a team was taking care of the basketball. We had a lot of issues at times trying break a press which just gave the other team more scoring opportunities than we had.
What do you think you improved most on the court?rn-I think I improved on finishing around the rim and creating buckets for myself improved. My sophomore seasons i had like eight points maybe eight boards. But I got a lot better finishing all around wether it was on put backs or on post moves.
What are you looking to improve before next season?rn-For next season, I want to add a few more moves to bag, but I also really want to work on my free throws and being confident in driving and shorting a little more. I free throws aren’t bad but they weren’t as consistent as i would have liked them to be. I drove a few times this season but I think it would add a whole new level to my game if I could drive some more next season and in my AAU season.
Who are some teammates that you think stood out this season? Who are some teammates who could have breakout years next year in your eyes?rn-This season a stand out player for me was my point guard Emily Randolph. She extremely quick, she has a lot of one-on-one offensive ability and the ability to create for her teammates. I think she just got better as the season went on too.Next season, I’m really excited for two players, our returning shooting guard Lola Woodburn Lola Woodburn 5’6″ | PG Puyallup | 2025 WA and my younger sister Laney Weaver Laney Weaver 5’8″ | SG Puyallup | 2027 WA . Lola can be a pretty knock down shooter, and she’s also probably our best one-on-one defender. I really think the sky can be the limit for her if she puts in the work in the off season. I’m also really excited for my younger sister, Laney Weaver Laney Weaver 5’8″ | SG Puyallup | 2027 WA to be playing with me. Laney can also be a knock down shooter, but she tall and long and has some post moves in her bag. She’s also able to drive and she has a really high basketball IQ for someone her age, even if she did have a double double or if she had an off shooting night, she probably had five or more assists just because she passes so well and she reads the floor like no one I’ve ever seen.
Highlights
How do you think your team and yourself performed throughout this season?rn-My team and myself progressed so much throughout the entire season. We built our way up all the way until our final games, and I think that our perseverance showed.
What was the biggest obstacle you and your team faced this season?rn-The biggest obstacle we faced this season was probably coming back after the way our season last year ended. With Garfield being one of the most anticipated matchups for us, we wanted to use last year as fuel for this years outcome. I believe that helped us through all of our games.
What do you think you improved most on the court?rn-The thing I believe I improved most was my shooting overall. I went into the season trying to add a midrange shot and also improve my shooting from three.
What are you looking to improve before the next level?rn-I want to improve my confidence on offense as well as my on ball defense. Being able to defend all positions consistently is something I want to achieve along with being able to consistently make an impact offensively at the next level.
Who are some teammates that you think stood out this season? Who are some teammates who could have breakout years next year in your eyes?rn-All of my teammates, of all grades showed out this season. The seniors, Ava Uusitalo Ava Uusitalo 5’8″ | SG Lake Washington | 2023 State WA , Angie helf, rae butler-wu, and jolie sim all filled in the upperclassmen role very well. Our sophomores, paige citron and reese roberts, also both had outstanding seasons, and I am very excited to see what they do in the future for LW. And of course, the freshman on our team, Ashley Uusitalo Ashley Uusitalo 5’9″ | SG Lake Washington | 2026 State WA also had an amazing season and i cannot wait to see what she will do in the future.
Highlights
How do you think your team and yourself performed throughout this season?rn-During the season my team fought through adversity as well as their own challenges. But I thought we came out of the playoffs feeling accomplished after playing a double overtime game and the relief of us finally making it to our overall goal was fulfilling. I thought we really came together those last games before state and we performed well.rnPersonally I thought I performed pretty consistently throughout the season. I had a goal set in mind to average around 18 points and I thought I reached it this season. However, there are some things I wish I did better but that’s a given.
What was the biggest obstacle you and your team faced this season?rn-Our biggest obstacle this season would have to be during our league playoffs. The day before semi finals against Arlington we had our coach restricted from being able to coach us until further notice. Of course that put a lot of pressure on not only me but the whole team. It was so sudden and we had to run practice by ourselves w/o a game plan coming into our game. That was the biggest adversity we went through this season.
What do you think you improved most on the court?rn-I think the biggest thing I improved on this season was my leadership. As a point guard everyone relies on me so I really took initiative of it and did my best to push my team. I noticed that even me staying extra minutes in the gym effected the team and motivated them to put in extra time after practice as well. So much so that my coach would yell at us to pack it up. This season I focused mostly on just putting my team in a position to win and it helped the team have confidence not just in me but the program.
What are you looking to improve before next season?rn-Before next year I really want to improve my aggressiveness even more. My coach always preached about my teammates and I having the green light and I wanna push myself to believe that I can drive and shoot as well. Towards the end of the season I really picked up on that but before next season I wanna have that dog in me that I know I can show out there.
Who are some teammates that you think stood out this season? Who are some teammates who could have breakout years next year in your eyes?rn-One teammate that stood out this season would have to be Kayla Lorenz. She’s a really good shooter and my go to when looking for my kick out. A teammate I think that will have a breakout year next year would actually be Dina Yonas. I’ve seen her become a bucket getter in fall league and she will probably catch teams by surprise once she gets in rhythm. Of course there are more players who can stand out but I think going into senior year hopefully staying healthy, Dina will show out.
Highlights
How do you think your team and yourself performed throughout this season?rn-During the off season we worked on discipline of ball movement and taking the better shot and being really active and well conditioned. Though it didn’t always translate consistently in some of the games the games where we did have really good ball movement or were active like Holy Names we wanted to make sure that as a team we would recognize roles and strengths and how to play as a team. I am very proud of my performance as a sophomore, I had a lot of expectation put on my shoulders even as a freshman and I believed that I met the moment. In addition to being sharp and staying healthy a big component of what I worked in was diversifying the tools i had in my bag like trying to perfect my runner getting a more consistent three, utilizing my speed and changing the tempo, hitting my bigs, and taking care of the ball and scoring when i needed to. Defensively, i was proud on the way I cause turn overs and reduced players point average (the points scored off of me was less than average than what they usually scored) to me I think my game has matured and even though I was one of the main options at newport I was able to impact without scoring and that showed the well roundedness of my rebounds and steals etc
What was the biggest obstacle you and your team faced this season?rn-The biggest obstacle the team faced I would say was that we weren’t a tal team. Our tallest player was 5’11. As a guard- heavy team, we did a great job pushing the ball and pace and outrunning bigs, capitalizing on transition offense or defense and communicating on the floor. Like traditional HS teams, we had many players whose primary sport or interest wasn’t basketball and only 3 of us played AAU the summer before. But despite this, my teammates worked hard everyday in practice and played with a lot of heart. Personally a big obstacle for me was just making sure I maintained playing my game with or without calls. I knew I would have contested drives and wouldn’t always get the whistle. As one of key players for Newport, I got a little breathing time so I needed to make sure I was diligent in stretching out, eating right, drinking plenty of fluids during the season. And of course all us student athletes have to balance school, sports and being regular teenagers at the same time.
What do you think you improved most on the court?rn-This year i improved on reading the defense better, when to take it into the paint when to pull-up when to do a floater and when to pass it out to my shooter. I pushed the tempo and wanted the other team to play at my speed. Defensively I hustled for every play and tried my best to make sure that the person i was defending didn’t score as much As they typically do. I am also happy with my growth as a leader. I am very hard on myself and I had those same high expectations with my teammates. I course corrected when I realized that I had to approach each teammate differently to get the best out of each of them. I compete and I definitely wanted Ws and all my pushing our team was so we could have shared success
What are you looking to improve before next season?rn-There’s always a lot of things that I think I need to work on to improve. I’d love to improve my consistency in shooting at all three levels and having the court vision to control the game. What I’m working on the most is to improve is my mental game. The physical stuff— training, practice, getting shots up, and conditioning— and technical pieces— court IQ, film review, etc, those are boiler plate and are givens. To get myself to the next level, my mental game in game preparation, goal setting and working through any adversity or white noise with mental toughness will be vital.
Who are some teammates that you think stood out this season? Who are some teammates who could have breakout years next year in your eyes?rn-Megan coming in as a freshman and having a great season being one of the top shooters in our league. One of our seniors was really a break through player since she was on JV last year and just based on her work ethic she was able to get a starting position on varsity and that is amazing! Her energy was contagious and her defense out of the sheer drive to always compete was amazing. Julia had a great season as well and I was really proud of her! She played tough under the basket. Our secondary team was also good they got the job done when we needed clutch boards or clutch shots and overall bringing a lot of energy from the bench