Every basketball season, the Arabians look to compete in tournaments to prepare for district. This year they finished three tournaments with 12 wins and only 2 losses.

“This year, we were thrown into game situations right after volleyball season ended,” junior Clarissa Zamora said. “With only a few days to practice, we competed very well and came out with many wins.”

The tournament season started off at Cole High School. The Arabians placed first by one point, losing to South Side, and beating La Vernia, Cole, Lytle and Donna.

“Since there was a three way tie between us, La Vernia and South Side, the winner had to go based off of a point system,” senior Alissa Stehle said. “Thankfully, we beat La Vernia by 14 points which set us at first place.”

Placing first again, the Arabians went undefeated at their second tournament hosted by Marion, beating Boerne, Smithville, Marion and Hallettsville.

“Because we didn’t know much about the competing teams, we tried to played intense and aggressive every game,” sophomore Megan Runyan said. “Our strategy worked so well that we didn’t lose a single game and beat each team by 10 to 34 points.”

The Arabians came in second at their home tournament, with a tough three point loss to Harper, and 20 to 30 point wins against Comfort, Bandera, Knippa and Providence.

“There were a lot of things we did differently that caused us to lose to Harper, but we picked our heads up after and strived to beat every other team in hopes of getting first,” junior Gabriella Rodriguez said. “We started playing more aggressive and brought our intensity up which definitely helped us win the rest of our games.”

After each tournament, the hosts selected one player that they saw fit to receive the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, and senior Preslee Quisenberry earned this award twice, once at the Cole tournament and another at Marion’s tournament.

“I was surprised to get MVP at the Cole tournament because we didn’t win every game,” senior Preslee Quisenberry said. “But we beat La Vernia by just enough points to win the tournament.”

The All-Tournament Award is another award presented after tournaments. This award goes to players that have sportsmanlike conduct, good attitude and gamesmanship. Out of the three tournaments Macey Hein, Sierra Pompa, Preslee Quisenberry, Megan Runyan and Alissa Stehle received an All-Tournament Award.

“Often this year, several members of the team have played well enough to be selected to the All-Tournament teams, and it’s always great to see them get recognized for their hard work and dedication,” Head Coach Jim Sessions said. “The awards also show that opposing coaches recognize the hard work and dedication of the team as a whole.”