The Leyden girls basketball team came into this season with just two returning players who had played substantial varsity minutes the year before.
With many newcomers stepping into big roles, plus the return of seniors Anixa Cisneros and Leah Ferrici from ACL tears, the learning curve for this group was steep. The Eagles stumbled out to a 3-11 start, entering January on a seven-game losing streak.
But Leyden ended up going 9-6 in the season’s second half.
“It took a while for them to adjust to the varsity pace, but they were willing to learn,” coach Stephanie Kuzmanic said after a 52-37 season-ending loss to Loyola in the 4A regional semifinals.
“At the end of the day that’s what you want. If you don’t have coachable kids, you can’t be successful. And we really had coachable kids that asked questions and worked hard every day.”
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Both coach and players credited the team’s closeness for persevering and ultimately finding their stride as the season went along.
“We’ve had more talented teams in the past, but this team really plays for each other and their chemistry is phenomenal,” Kuzmanic said. “Their chemistry off the floor is phenomenal and that translates to the court.
“In a way, I think them being young helped, because nobody thought they were better than anyone, so they really listened to the seniors. Everybody kind of figured out their role and didn’t try to do more than that or less than that. They played together and for each other.”
The players said they established their on-court identity from their off-court personas.
“I think it was just the energy we were coming with,” senior Evelyn Abundes said. “We finally realized the potential we actually had. We, as a team, are very energetic off the court, so we just had to learn how to translate that on the court. We just learned how to move the ball, talk even more on the court, and it was just all the little things that made it come together. Once we saw how well we worked once we were doing all the little things, it just made everything click.”
Though the Eagles will graduate four seniors, including all-conference honoree Abundes, the youth of the program will become an asset going forward.
Four juniors, three sophomores and a freshman saw playing time against Loyola. It was a game that saw Leyden’s full-court press give the more experienced Ramblers fits early on, and it was an effort that made Kuzmanic proud.
“It’s a big pair of shoes to fill,” junior Becky Colmenares, the Eagles’ second all-conference player, said of their graduating seniors. “But since we’re all young and created our chemistry this year, it’s going to be a lot easier next year to just click. We have a very strong work ethic as a team in general. So if we keep that up next year, we can do a lot in our conference.”
“They’re in good hands,” Abundes said. “The seniors coming up next year, they’re gonna be fine. [The team] has good leadership. As long as they show what they did this year, they can have an even better season next year.”
Jakub Rudnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press
Twitter @Pioneer_Press