With such a small team, most people probably didn’t expect Uni High’s Girls basketball team to be sitting at first place in the conference right now. Their Varsity team, led by the team’s 4 seniors Ella Greer, Dina Hashash, Lara Marinov, and Anna Park, has a record of 15-8, including a perfect 8-0 record in conference games. Coming to the end of the season, it’s a great time to dive deep into the team and their success.

Anna Williams, a sophomore playing on both JV and Varsity talks about what it’s like playing on such a small team with incredible talent.

“JV isn’t at a winning record right now, but because it’s a small team, we all play a good percentage of Varsity too, and Varsity does have a winning record so it’s pretty fun,” Williams said.

This season was also one of firsts for the team, hosting the first ever matchup between Academy High School’s newly formed basketball team and Uni’s JV team. The Illineks won 25-18, hopefully fueling a lot of future close games against Academy as well.

Following the JV game, Uni’s Varsity team played against Normal Calvary Christian Academy, resulting in a massive blowout Uni win with a score of 47-2. By the end of the first quarter, Uni’s starters were already sitting on the bench, while JV players got in good minutes to finish the game out.

While most of Uni’s JV players get many minutes on Varsity, this can sometimes be a challenge. However, the ability for younger players to split both JV and Varsity is largely seen as a positive and an opportunity to gain extra experience.

“I think most of the schools in our conference do have a couple players that split, so at least we can learn from the JV game how to deal with those people on Varsity, or who to watch out for,” Williams mentioned. “We also have a stronger Varsity [team] than JV team, so it hasn’t been too much of an issue.”

While the season may not be over yet, players are already looking forward to next season with hopes of more involvement in the team.

Williams attributes some of her excitement to the Subbie girl prospects who will be joining the team as freshmen and the new leadership heading into next year.

“I’ve seen a few of the subbie games and their players are really strong, so I can’t wait to be able to work with them if they decide to play at the high school level,” she said. “I’m also looking forward to the current juniors becoming next year’s captains because they’re all very good.”

Make sure to get out to a game if you can, the last scheduled home game for the girls is on February 8th at Kenney Gym against Arthur Christian School.