After a rocky start to the season, both the boys and girls Firehawk basketball teams have winning records and are headed to the division playoffs later this month.

The Boy’s Basketball team has drastically improved its record from 5-4 on Dec. 6 to 12-5 as of Feb. 1, going undefeated in its league.

Players credit their success to a collective turnaround, in particular the return of starting junior Ari Wachtenheim who suffered an injury Nov. 22.

“We’re stronger,” said Coach Colon Jamerson. “Ari is back from his ankle injury and our bench is doing better… players are understanding their assignments and roles.”

After starting the season with only seven players in their Houston Tournament – which they won nevertheless – the Firehawks had to recover quickly, incorporating five more players into their tight group. This weakened their chemistry and led to a handful of successive losses in the beginning of the regular season.

The team quickly recovered but was stopped short by a 20-point loss to YULA on Dec. 13. Since then they’ve won six straight.

“One reason we’re doing so well is that the [opposing] teams are worse,” said freshman Simcha Halpert. “We’re also playing better as a team.”

Another group that’s playing better as a team is the Girl’s Basketball team, currently 4-1 in league after blowing out Summit View West twice 62-7 and 55-7 Jan. 9 and Jan. 12. Last year they were from 4-7 overall and 2-4 in league play. This year’s team 8-6 overall and 4-1 in league.

“We’ve had a lot of teamwork,” said sophomore Robin Ashkenazi. “We’ve come a long way from last year.”

Come a long way they have, as they and the boys are en route to the Division 5A playoffs. We can count on seeing them play into late February.