The varsity girls basketball team is heading to the playoffs for the first time since the 2009 season. The Tigers hold the number 7 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Division II bracket and will host the 10 seed, Del Oro, tomorrow at 7 p.m.

This year, the Tigers concluded their season with a league record of 7-7 and posted an overall record of 15-12.

Until this year the varsity girls basketball team has not had an overall winning record or a winning league record since the 2004-05 season.

According to coach Josh Errecart, from the beginning of the season the girls varsity basketball program was heading off in a different direction than in years past. The team has frequently relied on a single standout player up until this year.

Katie Simon led the team to playoffs in 2009 and Lindsay Anderson and Shelbie McKay both took the lead role in 2014 and 2015, respectively. All three led the team in points, rebounds and other statistics.

According to Errecart, this season has been different as the team is really well balanced. He said that there is no single key or star player on the team and that the team has 12 active girls that can play on the court and the so called “bench players” would have been starters last year.

“The best part about our team was that we generally had the deepest team top to bottom that we have had maybe ever,” Errecart said. “So even though we did have few stars, I think that the huge advantage was that our depth was ridiculous and caused rotation issues and dilemmas between coaches.”

According to junior forward Isabelle Bautista, everyone made an impact on the team and on the court – this particular aspect of the team helped the girls earn their playoff spot.

“I think it really helped because we can sub people in and out so they won’t get as tired and the bench energy stays up like the starters do,” Bautista said. “It gives us an advantage because other teams might have seven key players but we have a whole team.”

Another one of the team’s advantages this year has been the fact that the team is filled with players with more of a background in basketball.

In years past, the basketball coaches have had to seek out athletes and turn them into basketball players. This year they had more to work with.

“Prior to this year we were always trying to create basketball players out of athletes and I think finally we have basketball players,” Errecart said.
Errecart believes that this has been the biggest difference so far this season compared to past ones.

Bautista is excited for post-season competition but also feels the pressure of the playoff atmosphere.

“It is pretty cool since a Roseville team has not made it in a while so there is that and there is obviously pressure because we feel like we should perform,” Bautista said.