The Gateway Girls’ Basketball season has officially begun! Their roster consists of twenty-three players with ten on Varsity, and a few of them switching between JV and Varsity. There are about sixteen kids that play on JV. Playing five teams so far, the Gators have a 5-1 record, and the team hopes to continue a winning streak.

Practices and summer league started this past summer, and Head Coach Daniel McGowan has done a great job getting us prepared for our season. Games so far have been against Lindenwold, Deptford, Audubon, Gloucester, Overbrook, and Collingswood. After the tough loss 31-24 against Audubon, they bounced back with big wins against Gloucester 40-22 and Overbrook 50-18. 

Daniel McGowan has been the Head Coach of the basketball team for seven years. In an interview with him, I asked a few questions.

The first was, “What are some goals you have for this season?”

He responded, “Some goals we have for this season are to compete for the Patriot Division Championship and to earn a home playoff game.”

This season just like last season will be tough and he also said, “We need to improve some of our practice habits to minimize some mistakes on the court.”

Coaches say how you practice is how you play, and they are totally right. By taking practice seriously it helped us to better ourselves in games also.

I then asked, “What are some strengths of the team?”

“Some strengths of the Girl’s Basketball team are our work ethic and our accountability. We have a lot of girls who work extremely hard and are always willing to admit their shortcomings and improve on them,” he stated. 

 The Gators have many more challenges ahead of them and hope to improve every practice and game to get ready for playoffs. With help from our seniors, Angie Zagone, Gabby Gasis, Rachel Summers, and Tabby Bay, as well as our coaches, Mr. McGowan and Gina Douglas, we are overcoming losses, improving our game, and how we work as a team to prepare for this season and future seasons to come!