Mercer Island girls basketball | Winter sports previews

Coach: Kaela Yuen

Number of athletes: 32

Last season: The Islanders lost in the first round of the KingCo tournament, ending the season with a 5-15 overall record.

Strengths: “One of my main focuses is practicing at a high caliber, high intensity day in and day out,” said coach Kaela Yuen. “I truly believe practice should be harder than the games. Practice is about mental and physical preparation, so I expect my girls to do everything at game speed, with game-type focus.”

“We have a lot of size,” said senior Marlo Cafarelli.

“It’s basically the same team from last year, and we have really good chemistry and everyone knows what their role is,” said captain Kris Brackmann.

Focus: “We have been putting a lot of new offensive principles in, so we there is a learning curve and there will obviously be mistakes,” said the coach. “I try to focus on controlling the controllables, which means ensuring the girls are giving 100% effort on the floor.”

“We want to leave with a bang and leave it so the other girls can carry on the tradition,” said Brackmann.

“It’s a different philosophy, but not a lot of big changes,” said Cafarelli about the team’s new head coach. “We want to take it as far as we can.”

Captains: Seniors Marlo Cafarelli, Kris Brackmann and Christina Williamson

Game to watch: Juanita, Bellevue, Mount Si

“We’re playing Inglemoor, Newport and Redmond, which are all 4A,” said Brackmann.

Contact Mercer Island Reporter Reporter Megan Managan at mmanagan@mi-reporter.com or (206) 232-1215 ext. 5054.

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