The girls basketball team will play Marcus in its final district game on Feb. 7 at 6:15 p.m. in the Hawk Arena.

“This has definitely been one of the best seasons since I’ve been at Hebron,” head coach Lisa Branch said. “We’ve gotten better each year, and so has the talent pool and the camaraderie. This is the closest [to each other] that any team has been since I’ve been here. The wins and losses are to be expected, but this season has been great. We’ve done our best and faced what I hope is the other team’s best too.” 

The team is currently ranked first in the district and fourth in state. Their scores have improved from finishing the season 3–20 in 2017, Branch’s first year coaching, to their current 17 wins and two losses. 

“All of us are fairly young [this season],” junior team captain Paris Bradley said. “My class is the largest on the team, so a lot of us are just trying to grow and learn. We’ve done well so far. We just need to stay on guard and be ready for anything.” 

The first time the team played Marcus this season, they won with a final score of 76-32. Marcus is ranked eighth in the district with six wins and 24 losses and is currently on a 10-game losing streak. After the Hawks’ last two games against Coppell and Flower Mound, the second and third best ranked teams of the district, Bradley said they are happy to play a team with a worse record as their final district game.

“The biggest challenge is staying consistent,” Bradley said. “If every player does their role and plays as well as they normally do, we’re going to do perfectly fine. We just have to make sure we keep doing our best, no matter how good or bad the team is.” 

The team will continue into the playoffs after its last district game. The team has made it to the playoffs the past four years, but has only made it past the first round once, in the 2019–2020 season.

“We’re super excited to go into the playoffs,” senior shooting guard Alecia Powell said. “We’re trying to stay humble, stay focused and just do the best we can on and off the court to get us further. It’s just about working together to reach our goals.” 

Branch said the team will continue its current preparation strategy of watching how Marcus plays for approximately 30 minutes before working on their own weaknesses during practices.

“We’re going day by day, game by game,” Branch said. “We’ve had some quality wins against ranked teams, and we’re taking that with us. We’re going to play hard, make good memories and live with the result.”