Lady Raiders Have Break Away Season

Lady Raiders Have Break Away Season

This year’s Dwight Morrow Lady Raiders Basketball team spread excitement all over campus at DMAE with its improved record and enthusiastic players.

“The girls are really dedicated to the game and they care about what they do and they do a good job at it,” said freshman Christina Miller, who is always in the crowd cheering on her friends at home games.

Some goals that they had for this year were being competitive in the BIG NORTH and having a record to show for their hard work and dedication.

“Winning is easy but it always starts right back in the classroom. Once the girls focus and improve on their schoolwork the game of basketball becomes simple and they accomplish far more than they can imagine,” head coach David Kessinger (Coach K) said. “We have a ton of potential, especially with the really young team we have now, to accomplish great things,” coach K added.

The team exceeded its expectations for this year and finished the season second in their league with a 5-3 record. This year’s improved season even made the Dwight Morrow Lady Raiders a competitive opponent in their division.

The 2013-2014 Dwight Morrow Lady Raiders team is one of the youngest varsity teams that Coach K has ever coached.  He noted that it was very different from last year’s varsity team that had a lot of senior players. In fact the star player this year was freshman Jayla McDuffy, who is a team player encouraged to make the Dwight Morrow Lady Raiders competitive.

“I think our team has an extremely bright future and there are certainly more and bigger and better things to accomplish,” Jayla said.  “The accomplishments we made this year are just a stepping stone for every other year to achieve something better and better and eventually a championship,” she added with a positive and confident tone.

Coach K sees many opportunities and goals for his team, too, which include being selected for the Bergen County and State Sectional Tournaments. Many aspects of the game that the Lady Raiders wish to improve upon in the following seasons involve focusing on running the offensive and defensive, staying out of foul trouble, and winning close games.

“We have a lot of talent coming back next year and the only thing that can stop us from accomplishing our goals now are injuries and grades,” Coach K explained.

The future is bright for the Dwight Morrow Lady Raiders. With freshman starting forward Jayla McDuffy set to play on the Lady Raiders Varsity Basketball Team, and other players committed to the Coach K’s goals, the team may just make States.