The Plainfield South Girls’ Basketball program held tryouts for the 2019-20 season in November with the intention to pick the strongest players to represent the school.
Last season, the varsity team had a school record-setting 16 wins. This season’s players have worked hard, and they are determined to succeed this season.
The team lost their first game against Carl Sandburg on Nov. 19 32-42 and won their second game against Hinsdale South on Nov. 29 61-41.
“I want to win more than 16 games and go far in the playoffs because we didn’t go as far as we wanted last year,” said Grace Harris, varsity starting point guard. “I also play on a travel team, so I’ve been practicing with them and I’ve also gone to a couple open gyms at South.”
Sophomore Hallie Meachum, junior varsity shooting guard and small forward, played on the freshman team last season. She has been practicing in the off season.
“This season, my goal is to make an impact on my team and the games we play,” Meachum said.
But the players are just one part of a team. According to Harris, a good coach “really wants the best for them.”
Lincoln DePaula, head coach of the varsity team, has coached the team for the last four years and says this year has the most talent he has ever had to work with. After his first-year coaching, the team ended the season with four wins but was able to build a sense of pride.
“Four years ago, we won four games, my first year. A lot of the things we did was just building culture, we call it establishing the pride,” DePaula said. “This year I don’t want to count how many games we win. I just want to see how we compete.”
After a well-played season last year by varsity, the Cougars hope to beat the teams that were difficult competitors last year. One is Oswego. They won conference last season, but the Cougars beat them in an unofficial game played over the summer. This upcoming season DePaula is “pretty confident” his Cougars can compete with Oswego who he calls “the team to beat.”
The Cougars will play Oswego on Jan. 10, 2020. DePaula also added that he isn’t counting out a conference championship.  Currently their record is 2-3.
The next varsity game will be on Dec. 6 at Plainfield Central High School.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Sears