Lady Wildcats Hope to Continue Winning Tradition

Many of the faces on this year’s girls basketball team are familiar. Head coach Jay Keane hopes the results follow suit.

Eight players return from last year’s team that made a deep postseason run. Despite the loss of Middlesex League MVP Emily Cranell to graduation, the Wildcats have high expectations entering the current campaign.

“We have a good core of experienced players,” said Keane. “It’s important to know how to win. We’ve proven with our freshmen and JV teams who are historically having winning seasons that we’re capable of doing that. The more they win, the more it becomes an expectation. That’s the kind of program we’ve built.”

Senior captains Michelle Woods and Alex Derian lead the charge of veteran Wildcats. Rounding out the list of returning seniors are Lauren McKenna, Cailin O’Flaherty and Megan Priem.

Juniors Christa and Carli Brent and Rachel Mara were also key contributors to last year’s team, and figure to make contributions this year.

Keane said he’s hoping to play more of a defensive style of play this season. The veteran coach said he believes a smothering defense will lead to easy offensive chances on the other end of the floor.

After a busy preseason slate, the Lady Wildcats take to the hardwood in their season opener on Friday at home against Woburn. Tipoff comes at 7 p.m.

“Every team is different every year, even with eight girls back,” said Keane. “It’s my job to adjust what we do to the kids we have. They’ve played a lot of basketball in the last two weeks. They like each other, they trust each other on the court and we’re focused and ready for Woburn.”