In Courtney Sims’ third season with the varsity girls program, he has continued to take the team to new heights. After two consecutive MBIL championships and a NEPSAC Class D championship in 2025, the Gators took on the challenge of making the jump to NEPSAC AA to face a more rigorous competition schedule.

Although the Gators missed the playoffs this year, their extremely young team made some noise and showed potential of being a Double-A powerhouse in the coming years. With some impressive wins against teams such as St. Mark’s, Thayer Academy, Austin Prep, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols, the Gators showed they were able to compete right away with some of the most prestigious programs in the Northeast.

Alexa Dykeman ‘27 emphasized the impact of the team coming together at the end of the season to find success.

“I think we definitely came together and all really played like a team,” Dykeman said. “A big highlight would be our last game of the season against a triple-A team, St. Andrews, and we beat them by 30. That’s exciting going into next year because now that we have the confidence and we know that we can compete not only with the double A teams but with the triple A teams, we’re going to hope to make a playoff run.”

Other than losing Taylor Wozniak ‘26, who recently committed to Hamilton College, the team brings back the same young core that has driven them to success over the past few years. Apart from continuing to recruit new players into school, Sims will continue developing his team through his AAU grassroots program, Team Sims. 

Dykeman expresses how continuing to play together will help improve the chemistry heading into next year.

“I think all getting to play together and play in a competitive circuit, play in these tournaments that are maybe not as high stakes as what we’re used to with school basketball, but also be able to win them, would just help with our chemistry,” Dykeman said. 

In what was considered a “transition year” to coach Courtney Sims, he looks to continue setting the standard for next year’s team. 

“Coach Sims emphasizes that we had our transition year,” Dykeman said. “We competed with all the teams last year. We didn’t get blown out, so he tells us that we’re going into the season thinking that we can win it all because we can. We have the talent, we have the coaching, we have the players to do it.”