By Laura Garcia, Emalani Perez, & Thalia Savage

Squeaking shoes on the court, the swish of the ball as it falls through the net, the loud buzzer at the end of the quarter. Basketball: one of the most popular sports across the nation and worldwide. In recent years, Albany High has seen a large increase in boys basketball players while the girls basketball roster, despite their success, continues to shrink.

The decrease in participation has not gone unnoticed.

“[The team was] almost all freshmen and sophomores and now those girls are juniors and seniors,” said one of the girls basketball coaches Diana Park, who is better known as Coach Missy. “I think we would like to have both a varsity and a J.V team and potentially a freshmen team — but that takes building.”

Park spoke optimistically about what the middle school participation levels could mean for the high school team’s future.

“There’s a pipeline that we’re building by having those kids come up, and when you have that many kids trying out for sixth grade, we’re going to have a lot trying out for the high school team,” she said. “So that’s what it’s going to take to build a basketball powerhouse at Albany is to have kids come and participate.”

Albany Athletic Director Bill Treseler agreed, explaining that all teams have the same resources; it’s all up to the athletes to go out and try.

“In terms of basketball, it seems that in this community there’s far more interest in boys basketball than we get for girls,” Treseler said.

The athletic department holds camps and workshops to encourage participation, and Treseler believes that’s the most they can do to encourage more athletes to try out.

“I don’t believe it’s just an Albany thing at all but it is definitely something we are concerned about.”

Meanwhile, on the collegiate and professional levels, women’s basketball is on an upward trend. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark set the all-time record for most points scored in a season while the women’s NCAA semifinal was the most watched basketball game in history.

This Season

With only 12 players including several freshmen, the girls varsity basketball team was still able to make great strides. At the end of the season they qualified for the league tournament.

The Cougars made it to the top of the bracket placing third overall.

The team captains, senior Sienna Weinstein and sophomore Tenzin Palzom, both remarked how proud they were of their team this season and how hard everybody worked to accomplish what they did this season.

Many of the players thanked their captains for the support they received from them.

“[Tenzin is] captain as a sophomore and she’s really consistent and committed to the team even though it’s hard,” senior Melat Thomas said.

“I know how hard it was being injured and not being able to play,” said Thomas, “and the fact that she’s two years younger than me going through that is really inspiring.”

The Cougars ended their season with lifelong memories, a third-place league trophy, and two players — Weinstein and junior Jordin Shishima — recognized as all-league MVPs.

Previous Players