Parkway Central Girls Basketball has had a recent history of success and this season is no different. So far this season the Colts are 9-7, posting a winning record and still looking forward to more to come according to the team’s standards.

Senior guard Brooke Hilton is confident in her team and their ability to succeed this postseason. This is Hilton’s fourth year on varsity and admits that the loss of four seniors makes this year’s road to state a little more difficult than the last.

“We started this season off really strong, and recently ran into a little bit of a plateau, but we’re definitely coming back” Hilton said. “We’ve had a few consecutive wins recently which helps.”

But even with the loss of key components from last year’s team, Hilton believes in the team’s camaraderie and their ability to make it to state.

“Chemistry of the team is really good,” Hilton said. “Jay, Kennedy, Claudia and I have been playing together for four years, and freshmen and underclassmen have been filling in that fifth person role and they’ve been doing a great job.”

Hilton plays a big leadership role on the team and believes that her positivity and composure helps keep everyone focused and with focus comes staying disciplined. With 16 games played, Hilton leads the team in points with 205. Senior center Jayla Kelly trails close behind Hilton with 204 points and has the second best FG% on the team with 39.3%.

Head coach Brian Guilfoyle agrees that chemistry will be a big part of the team’s success this season.

“Anytime you lose a lot of seniors like we did last year–we lost three or four, one starter and three players that played pivotal roles on our team– you’re going to have some chemistry issues, and try figuring out who’s going to take over different roles,” Guilfoyle said.

“We have 4 returning starters from last year so chemistry is a really big deal for us just trying to get the girls comfortable with one another, especially the new kids. For example, we have a freshmen who has been starting a lot of games for us, so getting her use to her role and getting those seniors used to her as well. So chemistry is a really big deal for us.”

One of the starters, senior Jayla Kelly, scored her 1,000 point and 1,000 rebound during the first two weeks of February.  Those kinds of numbers give them a change to make another run at the final four and state this year, even with the loss of key role players last year. But with Leaders like Hilton and Kelly there is a lot of confidence with this years team.

“If we work really hard and stay focused and not get distracted, I think we can do it,” said Guilfoyle.