The girls’ basketball team beat Waconia 86-79 on Dec. 5, bringing their record to 4-0.

Freshman Shayla Miller said the improvements the team has made with defense has helped them move forward in the season.

“We were especially good on defense, we knew where they were passing the ball and cut a lot and we communicated that well. Also we looked for the open players on offense and weren’t selfish,” Miller said.

Assistant Coach Derrick Turner said the team has made improvements in conditioning drills during practices in hopes of improving their season record.

“We worked on (conditioning) and we are going to work on that a lot more, so we want to definitely make sure going forward that each game is always a lesson of things that we didn’t do right,” Turner said. “Once February gets here hopefully we will be going to state.”

Senior Grace Wolgemuth said the team ran into trouble finishing their plays during the game against Waconia.

“We were not finishing our shots and nothing was falling in, we need to finish our layups and free throws, but overall it was a decent game,” Wolgemuth said.

Miller said the team experienced a slip up towards the end of the game, but quickly recovered.

“We definitely got a little over confident at the end as they came back and we were not really prepared for that because that hasn’t happened yet this season, but we bounced back pretty well,” Miller said.

Turner said this win displayed their hard-working mentality, but also said their are things that need improvement going forward in the season.

“I think the game went very well for us. To go 4-0 is very good, there is still a lot of stuff we have to work on, but we have been doing a great job with the girls and we are going to be ready for the next game,” Turner said.

Turner said the passion the players and coaches have shown illustrates the family element of being on a team.

“The girls believe in each other and the coaches, and without that it would be hard to win any game,” Turner said.

The Orioles take on the Fridley Tigers 6 p.m. Dec. 8 at Fridley High School.