Groton High School girls stringing wins together

Groton girls basketball is a relatively young team this year with just two seniors, four juniors and three sophomores. That youth was put to the test early on this season with a 1-5 start against a schedule that featured several of the tougher teams in the IAC. Recently, things have started to click for the team, with the team winning three straight games.

Groton has defeated Lansing, Odessa-Montour and Dryden on its current run, including scoring a season-high 64 points in the Lansing victory. Head coach Justin Albro discussed what has changed for his team recently.

“Aggressive play from us both offensively and defensively,” Albro said. “Coming into 2022, that was our mindset. We’re starting to get our feet coming off of a COVID season, and now that we finally got the first couple of games out of the way, we’re hitting our stride. We’re communicating very well and we’re just playing team basketball right now. It’s showing what we can do, so we’re excited to keep playing and keep continuing this stretch.”

The Dryden win, which took place on Monday, was a big confidence boost for the team considering they had just lost to Lions two weeks earlier. Dryden led after the first quarter on Monday, but Groton was able to take the lead before halftime and never looked back, winning 37-34.

“We came out a little flat that [first] game,” Albro said. “But tonight, we’ve been in four games in six days and we hit our stride. I could tell their legs were a little tired tonight, but they fought through to the very end. That just shows us what a good team we have right now. That’s what I talked to them about. I told them, ‘You fought to the end, and that’s what makes a good team. You never give up; you push.’ We take it quarter by quarter, and we just want to keep getting better every time we’re out there.”

While the team is led by senior Abby Dykeman, who is scoring 10 points per game, Groton is getting plenty of contributions from younger players. Albro talked about the improvements he’s seen from the more inexperienced players.

“They’re starting to be comfortable with themselves as players,” he said. “[Elizabeth] Dykeman has stepped up big time for us as a sophomore coming off the bench. Maddie Perkins, who is dominating inside, is another sophomore. We’ve got a lot of talent that’s going to be back next year. Just the fact that they’re getting all this experience right now and it’s actually proving to be beneficial is just helping us in all aspects of the game. We’re excited for the future as well as this season.”

The mindset and attitude of Groton was on display against Dryden. A seven-point lead in the second half shrunk to one point in the fourth quarter, but the team stuck it out to improve to 4-5.

“It just proves they’re resilient,” Albro said. “They’re determined to always succeed. I’ve never had a team where they’ve not played until the very end. That showed [against Dryden]. They never wavered. We were getting dominated all night on the boards, and these girls just fought hard, played straight up, and they got the job done. I’m proud of them.”

Looking ahead, the Groton program is in good shape. With young players getting valuable varsity minutes this season and even younger players building towards a varsity roster spot, Albro is excited for the years ahead.

“We’ve got a great modified program coming up,” Albro said. “I always try to look five to six years in advance. Right now, our program is going to be strong over the next couple of years. We’ve got a lot of numbers throughout each grade, except for the senior class right now. We’re looking forward to the future, but we’re focused on this present season right now.”

The goals for this season are very clear: Groton wants to play postseason basketball. It’s not going to be an easy road, as they play in the brutal IAC North Small division led by the seventh-ranked Class C team in the state, Union Springs. However, the current win streak shows what Groton is capable of.

“Every year at the end of the season, we always have individual coach and player meetings in the office and talk to the girls about what their goals are individually and as a team,” Albro said. “Every single girl coming in after last year’s season said they want to make the playoffs. We accomplished what we wanted to last year with a winning record. Now this year, our goal is to get to the playoffs. We’ve had this mindset since the end of last season.”

Albro believes Groton is entering a stretch of games that could very well continue the current run. The team will go for four straight wins Jan. 14 against a tough 5-2 Spencer-Van Etten team.

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