EASTHAMPTON — Birds of a feather flock together, and that’s perhaps truest for the Easthampton girls basketball team. 

The Eagles are off to a fiery start to the season, racing out to an unbeaten 8-0 record thanks to Tuesday night’s win over Frontier. There isn’t a specific superstar that’s stealing the spotlight for Easthampton – the team’s success is very much a group effort. Whether it’s Christine Raymond orchestrating the team’s defense, Sophia Faginski pounding away in the paint for a tough layup, or Maria Belfakih flying up the floor in transition, the Eagles have a whole roster of players who can be dangerous when they hit the court. 

“(Against Frontier), we had three people over 14 (points), it's sort of a balance thing. Some nights Maria is our leading scorer, some nights Lauren (Morse) is our leading scorer, [Tuesday] it was Sophia, so it's really a little bit of everybody doing their job,” Easthampton head coach Brian Miller said. “We've been good about being unselfish and not really worrying about who's getting theirs. It's just about getting ours and hopefully coming out with a win.”

Their eighth win of the season was a hard-fought victory against Frontier, a team that knocked the Eagles out of the MIAA Division 4 state tournament last year in a dramatic four-point game. It was all the more satisfying to get a little bit of redemption this year, but the Eagles are focused more on improving than they are revenge. 

“(We’re going to) keep practicing, keep going hard every day, keep up the same pace that we've been doing and go harder every day,” Faginski said. “I think we did pretty well [Tuesday], but I know we can do better.” 

That’s a constant refrain from this Easthampton team – they can always do better. It’s a little odd to hear from a squad with an unbeaten record, but it’s that constant striving for improvement that has kept them in the win column all season to this point. 

Even though it has room to grow, Easthampton does a lot of things well – the team’s speed up the court puts opponents on their heels, giving them less time to set up their defense. Their chemistry allows them to pass the ball easily to each other, as does their basketball IQ that allows them to see the entire floor. 

But perhaps the most important aspect of the Eagles’ game is the team’s defense. Whether they’re playing man-to-man or zone, the Eagles’ communicate well and understand whatever assignment they’re given, executing it well and, if they do make mistakes, quickly correcting them. 

“I think our coach focuses the most on defense. From defense, you generate offense and I think our best offense is running in transition, and in order to do that, you need to steal [the ball],” Morse said.  “So you have to focus more on defense in order to be better on offense.”

The star for the Eagles on Tuesday night was Faginski, a junior who was sidelined last year with an ACL tear that happened during her freshman year while she was playing softball. Despite missing last season, Faginski hasn’t missed a beat. She’s been a big part of the Eagles interior strength, collecting passes and putting up layups no matter who’s standing between her and the hoop. It hasn’t been an easy road back for the junior, but she’s been able to find her game this year. 

“It feels so good to be back. It's quite a journey, not just physically but more mentally when you're tearing your ACL,” Faginski said.

It’s not just Faginski who’s hitting her stride – all of the Eagles have picked up right where they left off last year, and the new players have slid in seamlessly. It’s a tight-knit group, which helps when it comes to building chemistry on and off the court. 

“We're all friends, we hang out off the court, we go to team bonding, we hang out on weekends,” Morse said. “So I think it helps a lot to just be able to like everybody on the team, being able to talk to everybody on the team.” 

Ideally, the Eagles want to get back to the Western Mass. playoffs and state tournament, but they aren’t looking that far ahead just yet. For now, they’re just taking it game by game, looking for the next win to keep their streak going. Next up? A home game against Berkshire County foe Lee High School on Jan. 9.

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