Last Tuesday the Trojan girls basketball team returned to their home court in Bradley Gym to take on Pima High School. Mindset is key in sports for success, and junior Gracie Miraglia shared prior to the Pima game her mindset was "on giving everything I had to that game. I went in knowing that they were the number 1 team and wanted to disrupt them in any way we could. I think the mindset I went into that game with helped a lot because I got the job done that I needed to do."  

The girls battled it out on the court, but ultimately fell 34 - 59 to the Roughriders. Even though they lost, Freshman Ellie Phillips shared that one play was working great for the team. "The play that worked best during the Pima game was 60 pushes. It kept them on their toes and gave us one good look."  

After the loss the girls kept their heads up high for their next game on Saturday night against rival Gilbert Christian. Any Trojan fan knows that the Gilbert Christian games are big for any sport. Junior captain Jacqui LaGatta shared what the girls team does to help get them pumped up and keep the nerves in check before big games like this. "We have quite a few traditions before games. We listen to some pregame music and just all get ready together and try to get as hype as we can before going in. Our coach also gives us our pregame talks, which are helpful and motivational." 

Coming off a great pep talk and pre-game warm up, the girls were ready to go. The student section showed up in Hawaiian attire to cheer them on until the end, bringing the wave and energy to Bradley Gym! The girls fought hard but couldn't pull out the win and fell against the Knights 36 to 48.  

Freshman sensation Ellie Phillips scored an impressive 14 points in the matchup. She shared that she did feel the pressure to score as much as she could and carry the team on to victory. "I feel good that I scored a lot, but I cannot take all the credit because God gave me the ability to shoot and play like I can. I want to use this platform to show others who God is. Even though I did score 14 points we still lost as a team, which was disappointing, but we did play well overall."  

While they didn't pull out a win last week, the girls played well in the first few games in the new year. Jaqui LaGatta said, "I think we put in quite an effort to come back in the second half. We played hard and played our best as a team. We came up short, but I'm proud of us for working together and putting our all out on the court."  

Keep up the hard work and determination Trojans!!! 

You can catch them in action again this Wednesday, January 25th right here at Bradley gym playing Scottsdale Christian! 

Bring it on!