The winter sports season is upon us. This means the, very underrated, girls basketball team is now in full swing. Diablo girls basketball has entered league with head coach Jessica Barber leading them through it.
Mission Viejo Girls Basketball has three teams; varsity, jv and frosh soph. The varsity team is composed of 13 players; 7 seniors, 4 juniors,1 sophomore, and 1 freshman. With leading scorers Brooklyn Madland, senior forward, number 25; Sara Asad, senior point guard and guard, number 15; and Sofia Gozzo, freshman point guard and guard, number 3. They have also had the most wins since 2016.
Mission Girls Basketball finished 3rd in their league, behind Dana Hills (1st) and El Toro (2nd). Despite Dana and El Toro being very beatable teams for them, they just missed being able to qualify for CIF. The season sadly ended with an unforgettable and emotional senior night versus El Toro.
Previously mentioned, the varsity girls team is coached by Jessica Barber. Coach Barber started playing the game from 3rd grade up to high school and after playing only a little college ball, she transitioned to coaching. “I love basketball and when I didn’t quite make it in college, I just wanted to stay in the game and stay around it.” She had done coaching throughout high school and once she stopped playing she decided to teach. “I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with teaching and trying to continue to be a part of it.”
Coach Barber is very focused on growth and hard work in her team and is known on the team for her saying “one play at a time”. She prioritizes fundamentals and growth during practices and pre-season so during the season her players are able to be confident and skilled players.
“My core values are instilling a sense of confidence in young women on the court and instilling a sense that they are here for their team. It is not all about winning and losing, even though winning is always nice, it’s about success and taking that success and applying it off the court.”
This is what Mission Viejo basketball is all about. It is an accepting community that is centered around helping one another grow to be better and more confident players. Every practice ends with the team putting their hands in and instead of chanting diablos, they chant family. And that is the perfect word to describe this program, a family.
