The Woodbridge Middle School Lady Warriors have a bye for the championship. They will play on Friday, January 19th at Iselin Middle School at 7:15 p.m.. Be there!

Coach D’Orsi says, “I am excited and hopeful that the girls will be able to adjust to whatever the opponents defense is and that we’ll be able to capitalize and come out strong with a 9-0 season!” D’Orsi also says that this week at practice, the team is “focusing on preparing to play on a larger court”. This is because they are playing at Woodbridge High School and this court is “much larger than one we have played on this entire season.” The team is also taking a look at their defense and working on how the coaches can spread out their players in order to not “collapse” and have a “stronger defense”.

D’Orsi adds that even though WMS has won against the other middle schools, the coaches and the players “never undermine any other team, because we never know what they have in store.” Lastly, when asked how hype she is, D’Orsi says that she is “very hype” and extremely excited to watch the girls play, but “not as hype as Coach Murphy.”

Coach Murphy says that this week at practice the team is basically running through everything they have done all season. “Our offense and defense has been working well, so we are going to try and repeat what we have been doing for the past couple of weeks and hope it helps against either Colonia or Fords.” Murphy believes that running through every offense and defense that the team has in their arsenal is “very helpful” because the team has about ten plays on offense and about four or five different defenses. Murphy adds that he thinks the team’s biggest weapon is that “they have a lot of confidence, even if things don’t go well, the girls always pick each other up.” Lastly, Murphy says that he is “very very hype.”

“I think whatever team we verse is going to be trying way harder than they usually would in practices,” Olivia Viggiano, an 8th grader on the team, says. She says she is feeling “good” about going into the championship.

Lauren Cruz, another 8th grader on the team, says, “I am excited because if we win we would be champions, and we would get cool shirts, and we can win, and we would be undefeated.” Cruz adds that before every game, the team warms up, and takes their shots, this makes them prepared to play. Cruz says that she is “always SO HYPE!”

Sidney De Voogd, a 7th grader on the team, says that during timeouts and half time, the team “cheers for each other and tells each other that if they made a mistake, not to worry about it because they can always fix it on the next play.” She believes that one of WMS’ advantages is their height. She finishes by saying she is nervous, but “extremely hype.”

The three captains, 8th graders Bailey Timinski and Abby Rodriguez, and 7th grader Madison Rackett, are all “extremely happy” they are in the championship this year. “I think we [the team] feel pretty confident that we can win,” Timinski says. Timinski adds that she feels “good” about being undefeated this year. “We can all shoot the ball and we are all aggressive on defense,” Timinski finishes.

Abigail Rodriguez says that as a captain she is thankful that her and her team won all of these games, “we worked our hardest and now all we have to do is win the championship,” Rodriguez adds. Rodriguez says she is “super hype” and has “full confidence in the team.” Abby finishes with, “I know we can win this if we work together and do all of our plays correctly.”

Madison Rackett says that one of the team’s biggest advantages is that they have “very good sportsmanship.” She believes that it gains other people’s respect and makes the team seem “mature”. “Everyone always gets high fives. High fives are good,” Rackett says. Rackett says she is “scared”, but at the same time “VERY hype”.

Come support the the team and don’t forget to wear your red and black WMS colors and merch. GOOOOOOOOOOO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!