At its inception in 2021, the girls’ basketball program had only 23 players. This season, the program grew to its largest size since 2021, to the point where the program was able to create a new junior varsity (JV) team. With the unprecedented growth, new challenges and demands have come up for the team, but also, according to player Francia Sarrat, a bigger, stronger, and even more cohesive group of athletes. 

Vincent Cruz is the head coach of the LASA girls basketball team. While this is his first year as head coach, Cruz has been a softball coach for the past four years and a football coach for three. Due to his experience, Cruz can testify to just how incredible the increase in team turnout this year has been. 

“Overall, program size has definitely improved,” Cruz said. “If I am not mistaken, last year there was only a varsity team which was, at its largest, 10 players, and I think I’m being generous in that number. This year I am proud to say we have a JV team of 15 players, and a varsity team of 10 players strong.” 

In addition to the team consisting of veteran varsity players who have played basketball for years, there are also new JV players. Freshman JV player Genesis Flores joined the team because she wanted to play a sport she enjoys and develop new relationships. Flores was also excited to revitalize her skills on the court. 

“I have definitely started learning how to work [on a team],” Flores said. “I used to think I could do everything by myself, but now I know, especially on the court, I have four other teammates to help me out. I have definitely started learning more about basketball after I took a huge break from it, so coming back into a team was the best idea.” 

Despite their initial inexperience, the freshmen have become well accommodated into the system of play and the team dynamic, according to sophomore varsity player Francie Sarrat. Sarrat noticed parallels between her first-year experience and the current experience of the JV players. 

“This is our first year with the JV team, and it’s mostly freshmen,” Sarrat said. “I would say even half of our programs are freshmen this year, but it’s been really fun to watch them have what we had last year. At the beginning, they were really shy, but now they’re getting to know each other, and I see them hanging out in the hallways. Between JV and varsity too, we’ve become a bigger, stronger program, and it’s really nice to see.” 

The cohesion between both teams has translated very well to their competitive performances, according to Sarrat. At the end of last season’s districts, the team’s record was 3-10; however, as of Feb. 4, the varsity record stood at 9-7. The season ended after varsity did not place in the qualifying list of teams for the 5A district due to a tie between Navarro and Travis for the final spot. Despite the fact that Cruz only joined the team shortly before districts began, Sarrat said Cruz’s coaching style has been one of the deciding factors in the team’s success. 

“We got Coach Cruz at the very beginning of district play, so that was definitely an adjustment because we didn’t really know what was going on with our old coach, but we were excited,” Sarrat said. “I’m really proud of our team moving in and not giving up, not stopping, and Coach Cruz has been the best, most supportive coach. I think it’s been really positive for our team. Our record is showing it, so it’s been great.” 

As the varsity team begins their playoff run, the girls’ basketball program as a whole is hoping to keep their momentum going. According to both Cruz and Flores, one of the key goals of the team is to be able to create JV-A and JV-B teams in the near future, with JV-A being the primary JV team and JV-B essentially acting as a freshman team.

“Hopefully, more people continue into next year and, by the time we, [freshman,] are in our sophomore and junior years, we have all three teams,” Flores said. “We should at least get third place in the district [if we] stay connected as a team, be in the positive environment we are in right now, and just keep playing.”