Last season, the Coronado High School’s girls’ basketball squad was a breakout team, far exceeding expectations. After only winning four games over three seasons, the Islanders went on to win 17 of their 21 games in the 2024-25 campaign, securing the No. 1 seed for Division V and making it to the San Diego CIF semis.
Head coach John Coolidge expects nothing less of this year’s squad. Though the roster hasn’t been finalized, Coolidge said there will be five returners: sophomore guard Gabby Fichter, sophomore center Emily Albin, sophomore forward Lily DeSena, sophomore forward/center Siena Kieffer and junior guard/forward/center Charlie Reyman. Sophomore guard Olivia DeSanti would make for a sixth returner, but she’ll miss the season due to an ACL tear sustained from playing lacrosse.
Fichter and Albin were the two breakouts from last year’s overachieving squad. As freshmen, they led the team in nearly every stat. Fichter led in points and steals; Albin led in rebounds and blocks. Coolidge anticipates the duo leading the charge again this year.
“She had never really played basketball,” Coolidge said of Albin’s breakout freshman season. “She’s a great athlete, if she just can get in the gym a little bit more, she can really help us.”
Coolidge said he expects her to make another leap this season.
“She uses both hands really well,” he said. “She will fool you that she’s left-handed, she shoots, she can go in and out, she’s very quick … She’s very athletic.”
The biggest loss from last year’s Islanders team is Selena Herrera, the guard/forward who was second in scoring and steals, and third on the team in rebounds.
Coolidge is optimistic that because last year’s team was so young, the girls may learn from some mistakes and naturally progress and mature as players. Specifically when it comes to closing out games.
“We won a lot of games at the end, – the last few minutes – but we were up by 10 or 15 and then we let them come back in the game,” Coolidge said. “So we just need to focus.”
Aside from Fichter and Albin, Coolidge pointed out junior Reyman as a focal point of the ‘25-26 group. He named Reyman captain of the squad, and suspects her versatility will be key if the Islanders want to replicate the success of last year’s team.
“Her stats are not the best out there, but she does everything,” Coolidge said. “She plays every position on the floor and she’s 5’6.”
Of the six players listed on the MaxPreps roster, Reyman is the only to have three positions listed: guard, forward and center.
Coolidge said one of the things he is most looking forward to for this season is that for the first time since the 2019-20 season, Coronado will have a girls’ JV basketball team. With around 20 girls trying out this year, two teams are a necessity.
“I’m excited just to have a JV,” Coolidge said. “So that if there’s someone on JV that really, really, really impresses me, that we can bring them up or down, that’s the biggest thing … One of the best athletic groups I’ve seen is coming up, that are eighth graders at the middle school.”
For this season, there’s only one goal in mind.
“We want to win,” Coolidge said. “We want to win CIF. We made it there [last season] but we want to win it. We surprised some teams and they moved us up from Division V to Division IV … we’re not going to sneak up on anybody.”
