They didn’t expect it, but Oxford Middle School’s seventh-grade gold girls turned out to be a powerhouse this basketball season.

“I anticipated that we would have a decent season, but I did not go into it thinking we would go undefeated,” Head Coach Jake Trotter said. “These girls ended up being one of the most disciplined teams that I have coached. They were able to do things that were more advanced than the seventh-grade level.”

The girls faced off this season against other seventh-grade teams from Oxford, Lake Orion, Pontiac and Clarkston. With the ladies being young athletes, Trotter said he focused heavily on the basics this season. The girls particularly picked up defensive skills, which ended up playing a large role in their 11-0 winning streak.

“They knew where they were supposed to be out on the court,” Trotter said. “They had a sense for how to play basketball, and that just intensified throughout the season… Something that made this team special was their team defense. We played a very strong man-to-man defense.”

Trotter said he remembers the team overcoming their fellow Wildcats on the seventh-grade blue team, who went 9-3 this season, all because of defense. He recalled not knowing how the game would turn out, but seeing that his ladies’ defense would control the score of the game.

“Where we came together and I actually saw the team as what we became was our Oxford versus Oxford game… We came out and (won) by 17 points or so,” Trotter said. “Our team’s defense was lights out. I went into the game not even knowing if we would win or could play with the blue team. We turned the corner that game.”

Some of his most instrumental players this season were Ella Boyd on scoring, Kitty Morris all around and Keira Billison defense, who each contributed to the team in different ways. But, he said he saw all of the girls improve and put points on the board, even pulling out wins when the stars couldn’t play.

“We were playing Waldon Middle School, which is in Lake Orion, earlier in the season and Keira Billis was out sick that night, she only played two minutes, and the team rallied from an early deficit to actually win the game at the buzzer,” Trotter said. “Kitty Morris hit a layup to win the game.”

In the end, Trotter thinks the ladies have shown great potential to become talented basketball players as their careers continue.

“The kids had a great experience this year,” he said. “(Our) record aside, this was a fun group to coach, and I can honestly say every kid got better from the beginning of the season to the end. Every player contributed, I think that’s going to be my lasting impression.”