Skyline’s Women’s basketball team has had quite the season so far, with a current standing at the number two seed and an overall record of 20-5 with a ranking of 14th in the state.

Despite major setbacks the pandemic put on their season, the team managed to push through and play solid basketball for the entirety of the year.

The club has been especially successful at their own gym, establishing an 11-2 home record. During their 24 games, they’ve averaged 75.3 points per game.

With the regular season coming to a close, head basketball coach Chris Watters is looking forward to a promising postseason.

“The season is looking really good, we are definitely a playoff team,” Watters said. “We will qualify for the California state playoffs. We could potentially host a second-round playoff game. This would be a big event for us at Skyline, which has never hosted a round of playoff games before. We are really excited.”

With the post-season coming up, team captain Nicole Brunicardi looks back on what made this team so strong and the factors that played a role in their successful team.

“I think because it’s a new group, mostly freshmen,a lot of us have learned together through adversity, whether that’s injury or mental errors.” Brunicardi said. “Each of us has improved a lot, whether that’s just wanting to get better each day and/or being willing to learn every day.”

Brunicardi also spoke on the team’s highlight of the season so far.

“I think making it to the playoffs in general, statistically speaking,” Brunicardi said. “But again, I think just improving as a team. Whether that’s in the sense of individual schoolwork, or just as a team being a team player.”

The team’s top player, Malia Latu, committed to the University of San Francisco in December. The freshman guard has risen as a key scorer for the Trojans, averaging 23.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. She’s also been a stellar long-distance shooter, recording 38.9% from beyond the three-point line.

This young lady just keeps working and getting better!! USF bound @malia_latu13!! #workinsilence #outworkeveryone #cleaner pic.twitter.com/z5BuatjvNp

— Team Kidd (@TeamKiddNorCal) February 3, 2022

Just like everything in life, an easy road to something such as the playoffs is not possible without some bumps in the road. A few injuries occurred at the beginning of the season that caused them to put their team-building skills to the test and find other ways to build momentum.

Right when the chemistry was built, another roadblock hit: a new COVID-19 surge. With a new variant on the rise, it put a halt to the team’s season.

“When we got hit with COVID, we got shut down for three weeks,” Watters said. “We lost a lot of our momentum, we were feeling good about ourselves. Then we got shut down, that was like our second round of adversity that we were faced with as a group.”

When it came time to step back on that court, it took time, but eventually the team gained their rhythm once again.

The women’s basketball sophomore night will take place on Feb. 25 vs. Ohlone College at 5 p.m at Skyline.