Olympia girls basketball aims high

SOUTHWEST ORANGE A year after one of the best seasons in the program’s history, Olympia High School’s girls basketball team is ready for more.

Last season, the team made it to the regional semifinals, where it fell to Boone.

“It’s right there with the best seasons the school’s had,” said coach Robert Carmody. “We’d love to win district again — we think if we can do that, we can ... make a deeper playoff run.”

Senior MacKenzie Loos is optimistic about just how deep that playoff run might go. 

“I’ve always had the goal of winning a state championship,” said Loos, a team captain who committed to the University of Charleston this month. “I know everybody has that goal, but I feel like the team we have this year, we can achieve that.”

The Titans will look to capitalize on strengths from last year, when the team had a record of 22-7. Olympia had a 10-person rotation last season, the depth of which allowed its players to stay fresh during the game; most teams rotate seven to eight players.

“That’s part of why we lasted as long as we did,” Carmody said. “The girls weren’t injured, and we had a really interesting chemistry. We were able to stay fresh later in games, too.”

Since the Christmas games in 2014, Olympia only has lost one game.

This season, Olympia is in a new district, which will pit it against rival Dr. Phillips, Oak Ridge and Cypress Creek — a team that gave the Titans a challenge in the opening round of last year’s regional play. Although four seniors graduated, five rotation players are returning.

An East River transfer, Brianna Richardson, has worked her way into the starting lineup. A sixth rotation player is injured.

The returning lineup includes Taylor Hair, a junior who was a standout center and power forward during her sophomore year. Despite her success last year, Hair said she has a list of things she hopes to improve this season. 

“I’m looking forward to building off what I started last year,” Hair said. “I actually want to start expanding my position.”

Carmody hopes the team will play better half-court offense in the upcoming season. 

“We lost in the regional semis because we couldn’t consistently play half-court offense effectively against Boone’s man-to-man,” he said.

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].