Madison Cason and Sunlake girls basketball worked hard on the court over winter break while competing in the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational. This was a tournament consisting of over 32 different teams from around 20 states, meaning that the Sunlake girl’s basketball team would come to face many different opponents from outside of their area.

To begin the tournament, the team had a couple of tough losses. Madison mentioned that, “The first two games the team struggled a bit to break the other teams press, which put us in some bad situations.” Madison also said that, “Many of my teammates, including me, were having a hard time getting in our heads.” Despite this, the team was very flexible and adjusted to their conditions, with changes in their starting lineup, and at some times, changing up their defense. Madison said that, “As a team we made sure to praise the good things in the game and help each other up when a bad play is made.” These changes led to a huge 70-56 win in their last game of the tournament, against a team with a very huge competitor.

Although the Sunlake girls basketball team had a rocky start to the tournament, they finished incredibly strong. Madison stated her progress throughout the tournament as well by mentioning that she went from different amounts of playing time in the first two games, to playing out the whole last game scoring 13 points, and contributing three shots from beyond the arc. In addition to this, the team got to experience fun things outside of their games while at the tournament.  Madison mentioned that, “The tournament was very well put together, and we had no issue getting around the venue.” The tournament also had some great merchandise items and many great vendors outside of the venue.