Despite a 63-45 loss to Orange Coast College last Saturday night, which eliminated the Lady Vaqueros from the 3C2A State Women’s Basketball Semifinals, the 26-5 team reflected on its winning season and shared insights into its playoff journey and lessons learned.
Lisette Meza, a sophomore point guard, told El Vaquero that the key to success is “adapting to each other’s skills, strengths, and weaknesses.” She continued, “it’s been a long journey because it’s like a new group every year and this year’s team was predominantly freshmen and last year’s team was predominantly veterans.”
“With every possession, you’re learning something new.”
When it comes to what Meza would like to take from this season and into the next she added the team’s “growth mindset.”
For Evelyn Birau, a sophomore and team forward, growth is also something she’s the most proud of this season. “We had a very young team, so we had to grow a lot and faced a lot of adversity. We’ve made so much progress and that’s something I’ll take with me forever, regardless of the outcome.”
Besides the team’s formal, on-court development, both players shared that simple moments off the court, like listening to music in the weight room, bonding on bus rides, and “just getting to know each other during warmups” helped to develop overall trust and the team’s growth mindset.
Head Coach Joel Weiss, who has been the GCC Women’s Basketball head coach for the past nine 9 years, said that when it comes to what lessons he would take from this year and into the next “we had a terrific year, and every group is different. You just stay the course and keep coaching.”
Weiss explained that the team culture is defined by core principles that have been built over the past nine years and remain timeless with every new group. “Unselfishness, toughness, playing hard, playing together… are all mandatory for a successful program,” Weiss said. But when it comes to the game itself, “they are trying to win every possession on the court from mid-September.”
Coach Weiss also provided insight into the collaborative culture that dominates the women’s basketball team and said that “culture takes time to build” and that “the players that come to our program, know the style of play that we play – which is good team basketball. It might sound simplistic, but that’s what it is.”
As the 2024-2025 Vaqueros basketball season comes to an end, the Lady Vaqueros remain focused on continuing to foster a growth mindset that has defined their success with an eye already on next season.
Jenny Beres can be reached at [email protected].