Everyone is shouting. There’s senior captain Morgan Dulude shouting as she starts a full-court weave drill with junior Kiara Perez and sophomore Lila Parsons. There’s sophomore Kaylee Counter shouting support for freshman Carlotta Roberts, and the whole team shouting for seventh grader Wynne Fitzgerald. It’s loud, and it’s uniformly positive. At this girls varsity basketball practice on Friday, Dec. 12, everyone is cheering, everyone is running, and everyone is in full support of everyone else.

“Finish strong” yells head coach Dr. John Doll during the following drill, in which groups of three practice getting around screens set at the bottom of the paint. And, unsurprisingly, assistant coach Jes Rohan’s characteristically ecstatic, energetic personality is on full display: she yells “Dunk it” as senior captain Skyler Walker puts in a layup.

The team, rounded out by senior Lauren Counter, junior Maddie Klumpp, and sophomores Lydia Buttrick and Juliana Eichenlaub, along with senior managers Maya Green and Ruthie Butler, excels exactly because of this energy.

“Everyone on the team cares a lot about each other,” said Dulude. “Whether or not we win or lose, the morale is always there.”

Dulude confirmed my hunch about what I saw the previous week on the court.

“Practice is a lot of fun,” she said. “We all enjoy each other’s presence.”

Doll, as head coach, speaks to the team’s close-knit nature.

“The team this year is really cohesive and brings a huge amount of energy to every practice and game,” Doll explained. “I’m impressed by the positive energy from all members of the team, and it’s translating into tangible progress every day and wonderful support for every player.”

Though the team is currently 1-2, they are looking forward to putting in the work required to boost their record. And a good deal of that work—and the points required for the wins—is going to come from Skyler Walker.

Walker, 18, from Barrington, R.I., is the team’s forward, and a solid foundation upon which the team is built. With well over 1,000 points scored—she reached the milestone during the second to last game last year, a win against Miss Porter’s School—Walker is set to lead the Wildcats again in her final year.

After this season, Walker will continue her athletic career as a member of the D-1 Skyhawks at Stonehill College.

A four-year member of the team, Walker began playing basketball in second grade at her local YMCA, but didn’t get serious about the sport until seventh grade, when she joined her local AAU travel team, the Rhode Island Huskies.

When she entered Williston, she switched to the Bay Stage Jaguars, a travel team based out of Newton, Mass., where her passion for the game grew. (She and Dulude both played on the Jaguars during their sophomore and junior years.)

Previously, Walker had played both soccer and basketball competitively, but it was in ninth grade when she thought, “Oh shoot, I want to do this in college, this seems achievable, and I wanted basketball to be my sport.”

It’s worth noting that Walker has also been a four-year member of the varsity soccer and softball teams at Williston, and this year is captain of all three.

Walker calls herself a “very competitive” player, and she’s cherished her time on the Wildcats.

“It means a lot being able to play as many minutes as I get to,” she said, noting that it’s been a highlight to play alongside Dulude, a friend since freshman year. “It’s been really special to grow up and go through the program with her.”

Walker is a force on the court, and leads by example; she notes that she especially likes when games are on the line and clutch plays are called for. “When it gets really chaotic, that’s what I find the most joy in,” she said.

Walker has also used her leadership position to take under her wing younger players like Carlotta, the freshman in whom she sees a lot of her younger self.

“She’s exactly like me when I was younger,” said Skyler. Noting Carlotta’s fear of drawing physical contact when driving toward the net, Walker has urged the freshman to “go into the contact, get the foul.”

As Dulude noted, this physicality is a noticeable strength of Walker’s.

“She bodies people on the court,” Dulude said. “She’s just so strong.”

Coach Doll speaks highly of Walker’s playing and leadership, as well.

“Skyer is a dream to coach,” he said. “She’s a hard-working player who leads by example as a captain. She is a tremendous athlete who defends and rebounds exceptionally well. She also has great basketball skills offensively. She finishes as well as anyone in the league under the basket and can also score from behind the arc.”

About that 1,000-point record, Skyler said it felt great to reach because of the way her teammates celebrated it.

“It was a really cool day,” Walker said, calling attention to a bedazzled mini basketball Dulude made for her, as well as former coaches Amber Rodgers and Janine Whipple, who, along with her parents, were in the bleachers. “My team made it really special for me.”

While this season is just beginning, Walker is understandably excited about her future at Stonehill. She said after she committed, she watched a team practice.

“It was the best thing I’d ever seen, they were pushing each other and all excited,” she said. “It was awesome to see all of it coming together. It makes me really excited for next year.”

Dulude and her close-knit crew are equally as pumped up for Walker.

“I think it’s going to be really exciting watching her in college,” said Dulude. “I’ll definitely go to a lot of games.”