Entering a new season, Skyline women’s basketball has a competitive edge, commitment and team chemistry at the forefront of its strengths. The Trojans’ three official team captains – Desiree Perez, Imaya Anderson, and Niesha Ramirez – have led the team this preseason and described this year’s group with those characteristics.

While the team had a short playoff stint last year that ended with a 21 point loss to Laney College in the second round of regionals, the Trojans have six returning sophomores that now have veteran experience. 

Sophomore captains Anderson and Perez said the team’s chemistry this preseason, both on and off the court, has been a key strength as it has navigated preparations for the season.

“Right now we are building chemistry; we are getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses to help build team unity,” Anderson said.

Head coach Chris Watters said that, in contrast to last season, the captains will remain in their roles all season instead of rotating after every game. He also talked about the benefits the team saw in having one freshman captain.

“This year we decided to vote for captains, and you had to vote for three players; one of them had to be a freshman,” Watters said. “[The team] just felt having a freshman captain would help bridge the gap between freshmen and sophomores… and bring the team closer together.”

Ramirez is the freshman captain and she joined Skyline this season after she finished her high school career at Summit Shasta with a total 1,110 points. She said that as a freshman, she’s felt that the team has connected well on a personal level.

“I would say everyone is opening up, being comfortable and respecting each other,” Ramirez said.

When asked what it was like to be picked as a set team captain this season Anderson said she was honored to be picked by her teammates.

“I was honored to be captain, to have a group of girls trust me enough to lead them.” Anderson said. “That is teaching me a lot about myself, maturing, growing up, and also being able to share my knowledge to fresh players as a returner.” 

Watters said the team’s overall competitiveness is one of its biggest strengths because it hasn’t backed down from opponents in preseason games so far.

“We had moments in scrimmages where we were playing really well and continued to increase our lead,” Watters said. “We had moments where we had to elevate our game to match the level of our opponent, and we were able to do that.”

Perez also said the team has shown a clear increase in competitive spirit this season, in comparison to the previous season.

“Our competitiveness… that was a huge thing we missed last year so it’s good that a lot of us actually want it,” Perez said. “When we’re working out now, when we’re in the gym or when we’re doing any drill a lot of us are going hard full speed [at] 100%.”

Beyond the Trojans’ competitive edge, Anderson said this year’s group has shown more commitment through the amount of players who show up to and work hard at practice.

“I would say last year we had a lot of girls missing days. This year I wouldn’t say we had girls miss any days of practice since March,” Anderson said.

With the first two games of the season on the road, Watters said the biggest challenge for the team to start the season will be being prepared for in-game situations.

“We know that there are situations that we won’t have practiced that may come up at the game and that’s where our cohesiveness and competitiveness come in,” Watters said. “We are really just trying to preach that and get that competitive edge out of them so that when we do go on the road we’re as prepared as we can be.”

The Trojans will begin the regular season against the Marin College Mariners on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m.