Co-Captain Hope Nardone ’23 takes a shot.
With a roster of primarily underclassmen, Andover Girls Basketball will feature many players who have never experienced the historic Andover/Exeter rivalry due to last year’s season cancellation. Andover Girls Varsity Basketball will face Exeter at home this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
According to Co-Captain Hope Nardone ’23, the energy at Andover/Exeter is always high no matter the score on the board. She noted that the excitement increases for the team because of the players who had never played in A/E games.
“I think we are all really excited. A/E is always a really good time, no matter really what the standings are, but it’s always a pretty close game I think, just cause it’s a lot of energy and high pressure situations so I think I’m excited for it. I think the team is excited for it, a lot of the girls seem excited for it. Everyone except for 4 of the players, it’s their first A/E on the varsity team so that’s pretty exciting,” Nardone said.
Ava Davey ’25 explained how the team has bonded over the season. She emphasized that team chemistry off the court has improved overall play on the court.
“I think that besides the win we want to have the most energy, excitement, and hard work that we have had all season. We all have put 100 percent effort in all season and I know we are all looking forward to this rivalry. I think we are excited to show off all of the things we have learned this season as well, also we have become way closer as a team so that makes our team chemistry better when we are on and off the court,” said Davey.
Nardone highlighted the aspects of the game that will benefit the team against Exeter. She also mentioned how the availability of early practices this week will help further prepare the team for the game.
“We’ll work on moving the ball on offense, transition defense. I think [helping] defense and boxing out are always two things we can work on and improve on, and those have kind of been themes for this year, so we will continue to do that with the practices. It’s really nice because this week we have all early practices, and sometimes we have late practices from 7-8:30. I think that will actually help a lot with our mentality and energy,” Nardone explained.
Davey expressed the team’s general excitement to show how hard they have been working all season. She also noted the team’s overall improvement this season.
“We are super pumped up and we are continuously working as hard as we can at practice. Our teamwork and high energy [have] really kept us on top of our game as well. Plus our defense and offense also continues to get stronger every practice,” said Davey.
Hope Nardone ’23 is a News Editor for The Phillipian
