Last Saturday, Denair Middle School and Johansen High School women’s basketball players visited the Stanislaus State women’s basketball team after a close game against Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles.

Many of the middle school and high school players met with the Stan State women basketball players and were able to get their autographs.

Angel Rodriguez, senior high school basketball player, shared her thoughts about the experience. “We are just a local girls’ basketball team and we really like to see higher levels play.”

Rodriguez explained how she and the rest of her teammates like to get a preview and first-hand look at how the experience of playing basketball really is at the next level.

Ryan Lonergan, head coach of Johansen women’s basketball team, expressed why the players were visiting the team. “It’s really important for high school athletes to support the next level local area athletes and programs as well just working on that building that community in general.”

Avarey Correia, a middle school basketball player, explained why their local team is visiting Stan State. “It’s mostly a field trip for our basketball students. You get to see everybody play and new things to learn and what to do in certain situations.”

Macie Strucker, a 7th grader basketball player, explained why she is learning from Stan State players. “I am inspired to learn from them because they are very advanced and they do really know what they are really talking about when they tell me about basketball or anything related to basketball.”

Head Coach, Wayman Strickland shared his thoughts about the basketball teams from the local area greeting their team. “More importantly after the game, we got a chance to regroup and we are very grateful that these young women came to visit with us.”

“So, we are going to respectfully host them and make sure they get a great experience. It’s a really exciting game,” Strickland said.

Middle school and high school students visiting the women’s basketball team shows appreciation of learning and supporting our local college women athletes.