By Marin Murray

After missing out on a normal season, quarantining twice, and losing multiple games to COVID, the Lady Eagles have refused to give up, and in doing so they’ve become a family.

“With the current situation, the pandemic, having to reschedule games, and losing games and which means not being able to play games,” Lady Eagles head basketball coach Terri Aston said. “We lost a lot of games because of COVID and we didn’t get to make those games up so that’s a lot of adversity. Consequently, with the pandemic, we’ve had quite a few people on our team that have lost loved ones, and that hurts the whole team because we have family values and we treat each other like family.”

The Lady Eagles were quarantined almost back-to-back, with only a one week period between being quarantined. That’s 28 days without being together on the court; however, they still found ways to be with each other.

“We mainly just got on Zoom and talked to each other,” senior Leila Musquiz said. “Even though we couldn’t see each other, we still managed to keep in contact.”

Even though the girls were separated for four weeks, their bond is stronger than ever. They consider themselves sisters and have used this bond to overcome even the toughest of challenges.

“I get to see them enjoying each other and being more than just teammates so it’s been a blessing especially through this year being able to see them unite in more of a family dynamic,” Aston said. “I do think that that’s one of our best attributes is they see each other as family and they have each other’s backs and it’s very evident.”

With the season able to end at any moment, the Lady Eagles plan to take the season game by game. However, they do have an end-goal in mind; to win district and make the playoffs. Furthermore, it will take the entire team to do so.

“It is a team sport and it takes the entire team to win,” Aston said. “So whether they start or whether they’re on the bench, they have a role on the team and every role is super important to our success.”

The smallest successes have been important this season, as the 4-9 Lady Eagles have learned to overcome adversity; not just on the court, but in life too.

 “We really don’t give up,” senior Trakenya Roberson said. “We fight all four quarters, no matter what the score is. Everyone works hard on the court and they have a lot of fight.”

Although they’ve had many changes to their season, such as not being able to play in tournaments and having limited spectators at home games, the players and coaches have found a way to overcome adversity and find joy amidst a pandemic.

 It’s not just basketball, it’s not X’s and O’s for us, especially this year,” Aston said. “It’s more or less teaching our kids how to keep fighting and to keep going and to not get down on themselves. And so there are positives in a year like this.”