Win From Within
The 2014-2015 girls basketball team for Hanover High School is out for blood this year. Last season they ended up losing to Coe Brown in the Semi final game at SNHU when they were the favorite to win it all. Their main challenge is getting the new players and swingers from last year to step up and fill the hole from last year’s one sophomore and five seniors who aren’t returning. Eileen Daily, one of the five seniors, is going to be the hardest to replace. Eileen could do just about anything she set her mind to. She could drive to the basket, rebound, block shots, steal the ball, pass, and create plays. When they complete the challenge of filling those spots that are empty, the Hanover girl’s basketball will be a team that people fear to play.
The girl’s basketball team is similar to boy’s varsity soccer because they aren’t as standout as last year, but they will still be tough to beat. Coach Dan O’Rourke has one returning starter and three returning players. Starter, JJ Daniel, has many strengths including running the floor, slashing, and pressuring the ball with exceptional defense. JJ, also the captain of the team, hopes to lead this team to a championship. One way she will do that is by making up for the lack of not being “the tallest, fastest, or most experienced in the state,” said JJ “we will make up for it with hard work, diligence, focus, and dedication to our team and to ourselves. To lead a team like that, you need to set a high standard from the very beginning, and then just be a guide for the rest of the season”.
Christine Croitoru, one of the returners, is a spot up shooter who also runs the floor very well. “We want revenge,” said Croitoru “the championship was taken from us and it should have been ours.”
These two will help lead the team, but the team’s key to success is junior Caroline Rodi. She is a weapon in many ways because she has a great mid range jump-shot that commands the defense to extend out on her. She can drive to the hoop with aggression, she can rebound, and most importantly she can step up and be the go to person. “I feel like I have worked very hard during the off season to prepare for the season, so I think I’m ready to step up,” said Rodi.
Hanover teams are all division two, but mainly they want to crush Coe Brown. “Coe Brown returns their entire team, while several teams return a strong core nuclear including: Milford, Merrimack Valley, Pembroke, Windham and Goffstown,” says Coach Dan O’Rourke, so he knows they will be tough to beat. The way the team will get revenge is to attack every second of every game and to want it more than anything. Basketball is a game of inches, and this Hanover team plans to fight for every inch. If a ball is on the floor they will dive and fight for that inch to get to the ball. When facing adversity, they will get through with JJ’s leadership. The coach can see mainly strength in this team. However, he admits, “Our major weakness is a lack of size. We do not have a true post player. However, quickness (and effort) beats size. It is incumbent that everyone boxes out and aggressively crashes the boards,” says coach O’Rourke.
The Hanover girl’s basketball team will stop at nothing to defeat and destroy every opponent they face to get revenge and bring back the championship that eluded them last year.