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01/06/2020 11:00 PMThe Valley Regional girls’ basketball team is off to a solid start this season. In Head Coach Jaimie Toto’s first year as head coach, the Warriors have come out swinging and are sporting a record of 3-1 on the campaign. Valley picked up a home win against Somers and took a loss to Old Lyme at home in recent action. With bulk of the season still ahead, the Warriors will look to continue improving as they strive to become a force in the Shoreline Conference.
On Dec. 27, the Warriors grabbed a big 51-26 win against Somers. Valley came out hot and staked a large lead early in the game. Coach Toto was pleased at the way her team’s offense came to play that day.
“We had them from the beginning. We executed the offense extremely well. We found the gaps and we were hitting our shots and drove to the rim,” said Toto. “We scored pretty handily. We built a lead and we kept it through the whole game.”
On Dec. 30, Valley lost a 41-34 contest to Old Lyme. Coach Toto believed that her squad wasn’t prepared to play against a formidable Shoreline Conference foe in Old Lyme.
“We didn’t come ready to play. We dug ourselves in a hole to start, and it was hard to climb out,” said Toto. “We got it to four points in the last 2 minutes. We had to fould and they mad their free throws.”
The Warriors’ early success this season is a bit surprising in that the squad doesn’t feature a single senior. Instead, Valley has two junior captains in point guard Addi Marchese and shooting guard Alena Crosby. Their leadership in terms of getting the team in the right condition has led to Valley’s early success.
“Coming into the season, they were already named captains from the previous coach. They really took that and ran with it, being my point people to set up team meetings and conditioning,” Toto said. “That preseason conditioning has been huge. They’ve all gotten into great basketball shape, and that’s a big difference between us and our opponents. We can press all game.”
Valley prides itself on team defense, and that defense often leads to easy offense. With the Warriors pressing all game, they are able to create turnovers that lead to easy buckets. The Warriors’ perimeter players Marchese, Crosby, Bitsy Klomp, and Ava Cunningham are often tasked with bothering the opponent’s ball handler.
“Addi’s very quick. What’s really great about our team is our guards are really interchangeable. Addi handles the ball well in pressure and shoots the ball really well,” Toto said. “Ava Cunningham can run the point, too. They are interchangeable in the press. I have Bitsy typically on ball. She’s an aggressive player, especially in the press. When anyone needs a rest, I can have other guards step in.”
Other key players for the Warriors include bigs Reagan Brenneman, Libby Cap, and Salmi Miller. They have been bumping in the paint and boxing out this season, and it’s paid dividends for Valley.
“The dirty work of the post players doesn’t always get seen. Reagan and Libby are huge players for us as a team. Salmi is coming off the bench and is giving me some great minutes as a rotation player,” said Toto. “They are the ones boxing out hard or setting a good hard screen to get a teammate wide open for a shot. It’s commendable to me to see post players come in and keep the opponents off the glass.”
When Coach Toto considers the biggest obstacles the Warriors will have to face this season, she believes that the team’s youth and inexperience are the foremost concern. However, Coach Toto keeps running film sessions for the team, and she hopes that helps them get more familiar with what to do in certain situations.
“I think there are a few challenges. When we run against man defense, we have to execute with purpose,” said Toto. “We’re very young, so sometimes our decision making isn’t the best, but every day we’re watching film to have the girls understand the decisions they’re making in the game. We need to limit our turnovers, and get more assists and steals. They are learning their options on the floor through film.”
Looking ahead at what her squad can accomplish this season, Coach Toto and the Warriors have state tournament aspirations, but for the first time in a while, they have their sights set on the Shoreline Conference Tournament as well.
“We definitely want to get to states. We set goals at the beginning of the season. They all had the same goal as a team; make states and make the conference playoffs. We recently revisited the goals because I think they are too easy for us at this point,” said Toto. “The team goal is to make a run for the Conference championship, and now, that they see that we can play against Morgan and Coginchaug and that we could have beat Old Lyme, the girls see the potential this year. We still have a lot to learn, but it’s still early in the season.”
In the end, Coach Toto believes that her core group of players are already looking impressive this year and that’s come from hard work and conditioning.
“I would like to say that everyone is playing hard. They are working their butts off to get where they need to go,” said Toto. “One through 10, our players are strong and working hard taking their role very seriously.”