Though they’ve changed personnel wise, the Williston Girls Basketball squad embodies true team spirit.

The team, coached by Liam McMahon and Mark Conroy, started their season off strong, with a 60 to 55 win against Kingswood-Oxford on December 7, 2019. They won again on Wednesday, Dec. 11 against St. Marks, 50 to 47. To go 3-0, the team beat Suffield 63-60 in overtime on Dec. 14.

Coming into this season, many new faces joined the squad. The Willistonian caught up with Shez Zangmo, senior guard, and asked her about taking a bigger role on the team this upcoming season.

“Over the summer I played basketball in Bhutan with my team and I put in tireless amounts of work,” she said. While she was home, she trained with the Bhutan National Women’s team.

“Every morning I drove to the court and got up 500 shots at least,” she added.

Cristina Negron, a sophomore guard, stated that she’s confident the team will improve as a group. “I definitely want to have a winning record and make the playoffs, we just have to improve as the season progresses,” she stated. “We just need to keep getting better and better each day.”

With the team losing four seniors from last year’s squad — Sarah Sullivan, Gates MacPherson, Emma Gentile, and Abbie Coscia —  some of the younger girls will need to step up into a bigger role within the team this year.

Cristina said she hopes to learn from her freshman year on varsity and help fill the shoes of last year’s seniors. “I’m trying to score a bit more than last year. I need to have a bigger presence on the court,” she said, “bigger role in rebounding, driving, and defense; defense is my favorite part.”

Along with new players stepping up, the team has also received some first year players this year who are helping the team succeed. The players include Shez ’20 as well as Josefina Lehto ’22, from Finland, and Praghya Raja ’22, from Saudi Arabia.

Cristina said that the new girls feel like returning players. “We’ve clicked automatically, and we have a lot of chemistry on and off the court,” she stated.

Shez agreed with Cristina. “I feel that the team chemistry is solid and everyone is supportive of one another and pushes one another to perform to their potential,” she stated.

“All newcomers and returners look to each other for help, we all help each other out,” said Cristina. She also added, “they are all asking about plays and positions to be on the court, skills as well.”