The Lady Pumas had a successful first appearance at the Turkey Shootout Tournament that showed the new girls’ varsity basketball coach is bringing a new attitude to the court.

The Pumas play with an intensity that is evident in their tenacious defense and fast paced offense.

The girl’s basketball team has a whole new face this season, thanks to the different coaching style that coach Andrew Curtis brought from Higley High.

“You can already see the change in how they play, we’re different, we’re more up tempo,” said Principal Serrano. “I think we’re much better then we have been in the past.”

Last season the pumas went 9-18 with the first three games being losses. The returning varsity players are determined to improve this record, and use last year as motivation to continually push themselves to reach their potential as a team.

“We still have a lot of room for improvement,” said Junior Taylor Jobe, “We just have to stay confident and play with heart.”

Playing in the hardest division in high school girl’s basketball, the morale of the team was boosted when they won three out of four games in the Turkey Shootout.

Starting out this season with wins instead of losses showed the girls that their hard work during the off season is paying off.

Olivia Vernon, Jade Verberne, and Ashley Parada were nominated for player of the game in each game of the tournament.

Even though the girl’s have had a great start, they lost their first home game to Hamilton with a score of 69-49.

“The loss against Hamilton will only strengthen our performance as the season continues because we have learned our strengths and weaknesses and how to use them to our advantage,” said Junior Megan Colborn.

The Lady Pumas consistently have great defense, playing an aggressive man to man which creates many turnovers.

In order to take their game to the next level the Lady Pumas need to capitalize on those turnovers, using their defense to spark their offense.

“We have the talent and the drive,” said Jobe, “we just need to stop overthinking things and have fun on the court.”