Two years ago, more than half the WEGO girls’ varsity basketball team were not even in high school. Now, they are undefeated so far in their season. Thursday night in WEGO’s Bishop Gym marked their sixth consecutive win this season, and the pace shows no signs of stopping.

The Wildcats’ season so far has been nothing short of a miracle.

“We have two kids who were going to be starters who are hurt for the whole season, Giselle [Barriera] and Olivia [Ebelt], so they’ve been out. You know, the twins [Arianna and Ayanna Evans] moved to Indiana, and then Jasmyn [Trigueros], of course, and Elina [Velasco] graduated. So we’ve had a lot of adversity,” Coach Mark Fitzgerald said.

But in the face of adversity, strength shines, and the girls’ basketball team has been pushing through all season long.

The game started with a strong tip-off win by 5’11” freshman Ella Day in the first quarter. Both teams kept possession and passed, taking a few shots. Sophomores Ryhianne Salazar and McKenzie Hanrahan made baskets, scoring 2 points each. Eventually, Hanrahan was fouled, and she splashed down one of her free throws. A loud presence from their bench helped Ridgewood secure 6 points against the Wildcats, ending the first quarter 5-6.

Towards the end of the second quarter, Hanrahan was fouled and offered another two free throws, securing both. After, senior Alexis Leszczewicz scored a beautiful 3-point shot, and continued to attack with momentum. Any time a shot was missed, she went for another, not letting the previous shot bother her. Leszczewicz made nine points in the second quarter. Together, Hanrahan, Leszczewicz, and the rest of the erased a 14-point deficit, tying the game at 20-20 just in time for the half.

As the game continued, senior Sneha George put up a defensive masterclass. Her aggression and energy boosted the team’s confidence and slowed Ridgewood down enough for WEGO to hold the lead.

“The defense [Sneha] did on their best player was absolutely unbelievable. And she did it almost the whole fourth quarter with four fouls. That’s tremendous effort there,” Fitzgerald said.

The Wildcats have a strong focus on teamwork this season, and their record backs it up.

“Being a team and working together is definitely a big part of winning for sure,” Hanrahan said.

From seniors to freshmen, veterans to rookies, the team works together as one.

Halftime was underway, players were tired, the game was intense, but Fitzgerald urged them to push forward.

“Coach told us, “We know you guys are all tired. Some of you guys have been asking to come out, but we got to push through, persevere and win this game.” So I think we were all really motivated to work together as a team and win,” George said.

As the game went on, Ridgewood resorted to extreme aggression to try to take the edge off the Wildcats. Many spectators and players began complaining about these plays and calling for the referee to take action against certain Ridgewood players. Thankfully, with many fouls came many free throws, which the Wildcats took advantage of.

With high tensions and a hot-headed coach on the Ridgewood side, the referees issued a technical foul to Ridgewood and awarded WEGO uncontested free throws. Both Leszczewicz and Hanrahan scored, giving WEGO a strong lead. Eventually, the game ended with WEGO beating Ridgewood 42-35.