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Last season didn’t end the way the Prince Edward Lady Eagles wanted. The high school varsity girls basketball team was one step away from the state tournament, when they fell just short in the district tournament against John Marshall. Some teams struggle to come to terms with a loss like that, so close to their goal. The Lady Eagles, meanwhile, used it as fuel. They turned that disappointment into a 22-0 undefeated regular season this year. 

“Yeah, last year didn’t end the way we wanted, so everybody went into this season pretty focused,” said Lady Eagles Head Coach Howard Paras. “We had a singular goal. We didn’t want this season to end the same way. And it’s not like I had to do a lot to motivate them. They came in pretty focused and ready to go, to start the year.” 

This season also brought help in a number of ways. Last year, there were a few girls lost to injury, and the team didn’t have as deep a bench as Paras hoped, as a result. This year, the kids are healthy, they’ve added a couple girls from junior varsity and brought in a transfer as well. That’s allowed the Lady Eagles to focus on their mindset, to come with a strong defense every time, because as Paras points out, now they have the needed backup. 

“We just want to come out and be the most aggressive defensive team every night,” Paras said. “That’s been our philosophy for the last four years. We’ve been able to make it happen by girls being unselfish, coming over to help their teammates out on the court. With more depth on the team, if we do have a night where someone gets in foul trouble, we can keep on going. That’s not a luxury all teams have.”

Lighting up the scoreboard

Also, Paras said, this team just has more offensive firepower than in years past. 

“We just have more scorers on the team this year,” Paras said. “Last year, we played really good defense but we didn’t have a lot of scorers on the roster. This year we had some girls come up from JV and we had a young lady transfer in. We got a girl back from injury, we got more weapons this year.” 

That’s a team including freshmen Kyla Barksdale and Kamiya Killibrew; sophomores Keshawna Peaks, Amahri Miller and Mar’Liah Watson; juniors Madisen Tillerson, Aliyah Rachels, Alivia Rachels, Ta’Nya Booker and Anyshia Clark; seniors Isabella Arbitelle, Jayla Boyd and McKenna Vogel.

And if last season’s disappointment did one thing, it helped the team bond, Paras said. Now they come in with a family mentality, wanting to know what they can do to help the team win. 

“We have a bunch of kids on the bench who had been starters all their lives, but were willing to take a bench role and help however they could.” 

Lady Eagles set to take flight

Now the team starts district tournament play on Saturday. One benefit about going undefeated in the regular season is that the Lady Eagles play at home throughout the tournament. They take the court Saturday at 7 p.m., but are still waiting to see who their opponent will be. And if they run into John Marshall again, the team is ready. 

“John Marshall has been pretty dominant the last few years,” Paras said. “They look like they’ve had a decent year this year (12-8). But we’re taking it one game at a time. I don’t like to look ahead.”