As this season’s division champions, the girls varsity basketball team had their best record in the past seven years, with a 16-6 record. One of New Jerseys most competitive conferences, Skyland Valley consists of twenty two high schools throughout Somerset,Hunterdon and Warren county.

Sara Whelan, a junior, has been playing since her freshman year and said with their team bond and determination to reach their goals it helped them reach success.  She said “One of our goals this year was to win division which we did and the other was to get twenty wins, which we also did. The senior leadership along with the coaching definitely helped us reach our full potential this year”.

Maddie Fairhurst said they practiced a lot in the off season which benefited the team in getting so far. “Beating Del Val [Delaware Valley High School] was the best moment of the season”says Maddie Fairhurst.

The first playoff game was March 2nd against Morris County Tech with a 63-34 win. Key players included Sarah Ryan, and Caroline Barata both putting up 17 points. Their next game was March 4th against Newark Arts with a 65-43 win. Caroline Baratta and Maddie Fairhurst both scored nine points and Sara Whelan had ten rebounds with an added eight points.

The team made it to the semi finals with their last game on March 6 at Newark Tech. It was a close loss of 53-40. Sarah Ryan led the game with 20 points. Sara Whelan said, “Even though the the ending is not exactly what we wanted, it was still an amazing season and the whole team will never forget it”. The returning players look forward to next season and topping this year’s accomplishments.