The girls varsity basketball team won its first playoff game of the postseason on Monday, topping Comfort 61-17 in Sonora for the bi-district championship. They will play Holliday at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Anson in the area round.

The team has undergone some big changes this season.

Coach Jerry McSherry was hired to head the girls basketball program following the departure of Coach Kevin Richardson last season. Under McSherry’s leadership, all the girls basketball teams have recorded winning seasons, and the winning continues as varsity looks to make a deep playoff run.

“The overall season has been going good, and I think it has been different from previous years,” varsity guard Renly Weishuhn, a senior, said. “But this year we have one common goal, and we all are ready to achieve it.” 

Coach McSherry, along with coaches Robyn Brooks and Emmy Phillips, also coaches the JV green and white teams. The two teams have also had a successful season. JV white finished the season undefeated.

“Coach McSherry has been doing great with his first year at Wall, and I really like the way he constructs practice,” JV white guard Jaycee White, a freshman, said. “He has been doing a great job to encourage all of us and to push us as a team to strive for the best we can do.”

Varsity won the bi-district round handily on Monday. The area round on Thursday should be more challenging.

“The season has been going well,” McSherry said. “I think the girls have really come along and are playing really well. We would have liked to beat Jim Ned, but as far as the girls… they have continued to work hard and continue to grow.” 

Despite falling to district rival Jim Ned, the varsity girls are expected to have a good playoff performance, athletic director Jeremy Williams said.

“Our girls have put themselves in a position right now to make the playoff round,” he said. “We fought Jim Ned in a couple of really good games, and, while Jim Ned is going to win the district, we are second, so that’s great.”

Williams said he is pleased with how the girls’ season has gone this year, and he’s looking forward to more great seasons to come with McSherry at the helm.

“It’s always a challenge when you have changes, especially for the kids that have always been here because everything is going to be brand new,” Williams said. “But our team has taken on a new identity this year. The girls are playing well together. If they continue to do what they are doing, then the varsity team has a nice chance to make a great playoff performance.”