Pueblo's Angela Lopez has embraced her role as the Warriors' team leader. She wants her teammates to play together as a cohesive unit. "We win as a team. We lose as a team," Lopez said. "We're a team."

david sanders / arizona daily star

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Pueblo junior Angela Lopez has been playing basketball since fourth grade. But Lopez, 16, does not plan on leaving the court any time soon.

Instead, Lopez is most proud of helping her teammates realize the importance of playing together. She told the Star about how the Warriors have changed in her time with the program.

"Before, all the girls just wanted to play one-on-one basketball instead of playing together as a team. I've been trying to get us to play together for a while.

So this year, I just explained to them, 'One person can't beat five people so we can't just play one-on-one. You need the team to help you because you can't score all of the points alone. You can't win the game alone.'

This season is way different than the seasons before because we are playing together, not one-on-one. Now we try to all play together and not apart. We win as a team. We lose as a team. We're a team.

We've been playing as a team since the beginning of the season. I do think our team has been playing well because all the girls are playing together instead of apart like before. I think that's our strength.

There is not one game that has really stood out this season. The thing that stands out is that we're actually doing what we have to do this season to win. Everyone is working to do their best for the team. Everyone is doing their own part.

The rest of the season is looking really good. Hopefully, (our season) continues on to the regionals and then to state. I really think we can make it. We just need to continue working. We can't get to the middle of the season and then quit doing what we have to do.

I think our biggest improvement is that in both offense and defense we are playing harder. We are stronger. We have a lot better plays on offense. We're not just standing around. We're giving the ball to the open player, not just shooting it ourselves.

Our main goal this season is just to prove to everyone that we are a good team. People need to recognize us, recognize that we're a good team, instead of judging our name and always placing us last.

People tend not to recognize us because they think we're the lowest school or the worst school. They think that we're just a South Side school so we're the easiest school to play. They always place us at the bottom.

This year, we're going to change that because we are a better team. We're going to go all the way. Pueblo is going to go all the way to regionals and then we want to make it to state.

I just tell my team they shouldn't let all the talking bring them down. They're all going to make something of themselves so they should never give up. That's what I tell them, 'Never give up.'

I think we're going to have a good season."