Spirits were high on Feb. 15, as the WIS Varsity Basketball team dominated the Field School to take first place in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) AA league. The team had a 12-3 record in the regular season, earning a spot in the PVAC A league for the current 2024-2025 season.
This year, the team has suffered losing several impactful players, as graduated Seniors David Ochaita, Jeremy Bedard and Marco Opertti, as well as star Junior Dylan Anderson are no longer on the squad.
Additionally, coach Sean Whalen, who had helped them win the championship, took a job at the St. Albans School, leaving the team without a coach.
The search for a new coach was a long and grueling one. However, a couple of weeks before the start of the season, Coach Tori Moten got the job.
Moten has been a diehard basketball fan since a young age.
“[When] I saw the slam dunk contest with Micheal Jordan and Dominique Wilson, I was like wow, this sport is really, really cool,” Moten said.
She pursued basketball enthusiastically and played on her high school’s varsity team as a freshman. She developed a determined mindset during her four years of basketball at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Md.
One aspect of her high school experience that she appreciated was the supportive leadership around her.
“I was fortunate to have solid leadership to bring me into the fold,” Moten said.
Following a strong high school campaign, she went on to play Division I basketball at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County.
Unfortunately, she had to deal with a terrible coach, who treated her and her fellow teammates horribly.
“I learned that you can’t let coaches pull you down,” Moten said. “You have to stay confident in yourself.”
After struggling through three years with the team, she ended up quitting before her senior year because of the difficult environment.
Eventually, after she finished college, she was offered an assistant coaching job back at her old high school, and she quickly fell in love with the role.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I love this,’” she said. “We went 10-0 and it was super, super exciting.”
She continued her high school coaching career by leading her first program in 2005 at St. Andrews, and then later coaching Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md.
She then took a break from coaching for over a decade and is now looking forward to taking on her role as the head of the basketball program at WIS.
Coming into the season, Moten had a clear plan. She wasn’t looking for any numerical goals. Instead, the key was to create a connection between her and her players.
Upon her arrival, she planned to first focus on building a community and culture of hard work and determination.
“I had zero goals [entering the season],” she said. “My biggest thing was how can I create habits? How can I create relationships?”
She believes that once she is able to form these relationships, the results will start to come.
A characteristic that Moten values greatly in all of her players is their willingness to work hard despite setbacks and mistakes.
“First and foremost, attitude and mindset,” she said. “Whatever happens, happens, and you have to determine what you want to do next with the situation.”
As the team progresses through the season, Moten looks to improve one major aspect of the team’s game in particular: ball movement. In her eyes, a team that can move the ball quickly and efficiently can open up a world of opportunities in other parts of the offense.
“I just love, love, love to see when the ball moves, it’s just like poetry,” she said. “The ball is just flying, people are getting to their spots, it’s just such a great feeling when people share the basketball.”
At the end of the day, Moten’s main goal is one which has persisted throughout her entire coaching career. She hopes to get the best out of each and every one of her players.
“For me, the biggest thing is, I want to see the kids become the best versions of themselves,” she said. “It’s always been my mantra.”
By Benjamin Galbraith
