Marine Leadership Academy Girls Varsity Basketball is in the Chicago Public-Blue Northwest conference ranking #12. The number #1 in Chicago for girls’ Varsity Basketball in 2022-2023 went to Austin College and Career Academy. The season started on November 15, 2022, and ended on February 7, 2023. MLA girls’ basketball team played a total of 15 games of those games, their record was 3 W- 12 L. 

This year’s team was coached by Coach Tipre, this is his “last season coaching, so it was sort of a farewell tour”. The people who were interviewed were Coach Tipre, Senior Kaylie Carabli(PG) who average 7.5 P/G, and Senior Tania Calvilo who averaged 5.5 REB/G(C).

MLA NEWS: How do you rate yourself based on your performance?

Kaylie C.: 8/10 because I worked hard to overcome injuries [to play this year].

Tania C.: 8/10 because I am a team player [and] “I rather pass the ball than take my shot”.

Coach Tipre: “I have taught the game the same way for 17 years.  Some years you have a lot of talent, other years you are working with many new players.  I have had very successful seasons and won championships, and also had teams that came in last place.  This season was my best as far as winning, but pretty much the entire team at tryouts stayed with it the whole year, learned a lot, improved their skills, and had a lot of fun.  So in that way, it was a big success.”

MLA NEWS: How do you rate the team’s experience

Kaylie C.: 9/10 because we built team chemistry and new players adapted quickly to the game of basketball.

Tania C.: 6.5/10 because we had inexperienced players and the same strategies.

Coach Tipre: “We lost many close games so we were not as successful as we would have liked, but we have been in a harder conference the last few years so we are playing better teams.”

MLA NEWS: What did you experience this season that you didn’t experience last season?

Kaylie C.: Last season was a lack of players. What was new was team unity and community was a lot smoother and better in team communication.

Tania C.: Communication was better with the team and had better vibes.

Coach Tipre: “This was my last season coaching, so it was sort of a farewell tour.  I spent a lot of time reflecting and I was also glad to end my career with this group of seniors, many I’ve coached for four years or even since middle school.”