Isaac Robertson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Skyline High School for AZPreps365.com

The buzzer sounds and the Skyline girls basketball team walks off the court for the final time after its loss to Cibola on Feb 15, 2024. Despite a disappointing 13-17 record, the team felt confident heading into the next season with its head coach, Ryan Myers, leading the charge.

But Myers did not return.

With a sudden shift in the team’s culture, the players were left disappointed and lost. And the program needed to find a new coach to fill Myers' shoes, as he had led the team for three seasons before his departure.

Erica Thompson was the one to take that role. Thompson, one of the school’s physical education teachers and current golf coach, looked to address how the students responded to a new face leading the locker room.

While Myers’ time with the team did not lead to any big successful record through three seasons, the players had always rallied behind him and supported him through the program’s struggles.

“They [the players] didn’t want the past coach to resign, but he did,” Thompson said. “It has been hard to get everyone on board with new systems I have put in place.”

Senior center Madalyn Valdez said Myer’s departure did not make the team happy.

“We were all really sad about it. But he did it for his own reasons and he did what he thought was best for him,” Valdez said.

“Myers was great. I loved him, I loved everything about him. He was a really good person to keep spirits up all the time. He was like seriously a ride-or-die coach.”

Valdez transferred from Red Mountain to Skyline in her junior year. She had only one year under Myer’s tenure, but his departure left her concerned as she headed into her final year as a player.

“It was really overwhelming and very unsettling,” Valdez said.

“I came from Red Mountain where I did not have a good relationship with any of the coaches and it was honestly the reason I came here [Skyline],” she said.

Valdez was one of the many players who established a positive relationship with Myers before his departure.

The coaching change had an apparent effect on the team’s chemistry, something that multiple players on the team said was an important, yet difficult aspect of the game to tackle.

“That’s [chemistry] something we’ve really struggled with in the past,” senior guard Amara Rocha said. “I think it’s probably the most important thing because if you don’t have team chemistry you’re not going to be able to work together.”

The noticeable struggles were most apparent from the seniors’ perspective. They were the ones who had been in the program the longest and were under Myers’ leadership since the beginning of their high school journey.

Thompson said  team bonding is more difficult with some of the seniors because of the sudden switch in leadership.

“Some of the seniors, I think it was really hard for them to transition into a change,” Thompson said.

This struggle with team chemistry is something that is was ongoing with Skyline at the beginning of its season.

“I think there was a bit of a battle there [team chemistry] for sure. Trying to build a good attitude towards each other,” senior center Neslie Campuzano said. “Trying to just have the team bond with our new coaches basically, because obviously we’re seniors so we’re leaving. And I think we should just leave all the younger girls on a good note with the coaches.”

Thompson has stressed the importance of establishing this bond with her players, and what establishing a positive team chemistry means for her and her team moving forward.

“It’s everything. ... It’s all about that trust, that friendship, that team building, that camaraderie,” Thompson said.

Valdez agreed. “Coach and athlete relationships are really important to me,” she said.

Thompson admits her coaching style and Myer’s style are different,  and that the players have to take time to adjust to her tempo.

“I’m very different from the previous coach,” Thompson said. “I, as a coach, am very ‘tough love’ as you would say, and I try to be as consistent as I can with each and every one of them [the players].”

With Skyline’s season underway, this effort to build back the team’s chemistry is not something that can be done overnight.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Thompson said.

“Skill is important, but you also have to have a mentality in order to play,” Skyline sophomore center Jordan Seiuli said.

The mental challenges of competition go hand-in-hand with team chemistry. The team currently sits at 5-0 on conference play, though it lost two tournament games. So while it might be too early to tell where the team will finish, the players have this time to establish a bond with one another in the coming games.

An early example of this bond came after Skyline’s first game of the season on Nov. 20, when the team defeated Desert Ridge 48-38. This game set the bar for where the team wanted to be on the court and in the locker room.

“The Desert Ridge game was awesome. We got in the locker room, and it was a win and we were the ‘Queens of Crismon,’ ” Thompson said, referring to the street where the school is located. “It was a huge win for this program, and it was a great start to our season.”

Thompson praised her players’ roles in their game versus Desert Ridge.

“It was all [of] them, they’re on the floor, they’re busting it and they did a great job,” Thompson said.

Rocha said she liked the team’s chemistry in the victory.

“I liked how much we were working together, how much we were talking and lifting each other up,” Rocha said.

This coach-to-player respect is a pivotal aspect for Skyline. And the early win seemed to tease why the team could find success if the players can really work together.

Shortly after its opening game, the team was scheduled to play in the Black Friday Girls Basketball Classic. Multiple players were unable to attend the tournament and that rough timing led to Skyline dropping two games.

But the less-than-ideal result of the tournament did not dissuade  Thompson, as she has her eyes  on the team’s future games, when everyone is available, and more important, the post season.

“Absolutely make the playoffs. I hate to say like winning is everything. It’s obviously not at this level,” Thompson said. “But you put all this time in ... this time and energy, and sweat, you want some success.”

Despite the tournament results, the players have been in good spirits moving forward.

“It’s been good. We’ve been working together and we’ve had good communication so far with the coaches and with the players,” Campuzano said.

But Valdez admits things have not been perfect for the team.

“I think the start could have been better,” Valdez said. “But we’re getting there.”

The Coyotes bounced back from their tournament losses to defeat Maryvale via forfeit in a regular-season game Dec. 5. They also beat Kofa on Dec. 6, Queen Creek on Dec. 10 and West Point on Dec. 12, giving them a 5-0 conference record to start the season.