Top-ranked Warriors remain unscathed

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/02/2012 (5162 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What do you get when you take a dominant veteran post, add a talented point guard, and sprinkle in a host of former junior varsity champions?

It would seem you get an undefeated, top-ranked varsity girls basketball team, as the Westwood Warriors have proven thus far this season.

The Warriors are led in the middle by the 6-foot-2 Lauren Anderson, who is in her fourth year at the varsity level, and in the backcourt by the 5-foot-3 Mariah Barbosa, who played for the varsity team last year when she was in Grade 10.

Added to the mix are seven members of last year’s junior varsity provincial championship squad, who have turned the Warriors into a team that has yet to be solved.

“I was expecting us to be pretty good,” said head coach Sarah Lundgren, “but I wasn’t expecting us to be this good. We’ve rounded out our team really nicely.”

The Warriors have won all four tournaments they’ve entered — most recently the Transcona Optimist Classic on Feb. 11 — and took over the top ranking with an eight-point win in the Sisler tournament over Glenlawn, the previous No. 1.

Aside from Anderson — who Lundgren says could be the best player in the province — the Warriors aren’t a big team. They win with athleticism, intelligence and an intense competitive drive.

“Their desire to win is fun to be around,” said the coach. “They just love to compete.”

The style you’ll see from the Warriors on any given day depends on what their opponent brings to the court. The team is just as comfortable running the floor as it is slowing the game down and running its half-court sets.

Anderson was excited to see what this year’s infusion of young talent would bring to the team, but she didn’t think it would take hold so quickly.

“I thought it was going to be a little shaky at first for us to find our place as a team,” said the Westwood resident. “But after the first two games we meshed together really well.”

Barbosa, who lives in Crestview, said she didn’t regret her decision to play varsity last year, even as she saw her classmates win the provincial crown.

“I was excited for them,” she said. “I was proud that our school won, and at the same time I felt I grew more. I was happy I played varsity no matter what the wins and losses were.”

Now Barbosa considers herself one of the team leaders, a role she might not have felt comfortable with had she not played above her age.

Are the Warriors thinking about the possibility of an undefeated season? Not too much, according to Anderson.

“It’s always there,” Anderson said. “We know teams are going to try to knock us off, so we just need to keep working harder at practices.”

Barbosa agreed that other teams are bringing their best efforts against the No. 1 team in the province, and hopes that will help Westwood when it inevitably finds itself in a close playoff game.

“I think we want it more than anyone else,” Barbosa said.

avi.saper@canstarnews.com