Trojan Girls Making Noise

When Lely girls basketball coach Jalen Outten was informed that he had a transfer coming into the school, he had no idea the impact that news would have on his team.

"I was planning for just the 12 girls we had already,” said Jalen Outten, who is in his third year coaching the Trojans. “Then I got a call the second day of school that I had a transfer coming into the school. I didn't know what I was getting. Then it was like, ‘She's from Ukraine. She's pretty good.' And they said, ‘There's one more coming as well.' When we received athletic clearance and they became eligible, they came out here and worked out. I was like, ‘Yeah, we've got something special.’ They're God's gift. They're special. And everybody wanted them. But I'm just glad I've got them now.”

Sofiia Kiritsa and Sasha Rubanova feel they have something special, too. They feel like they have a second family at Lely High School.

“In the summer, we were in Massachusetts with our whole team,” Sasha Rubanova said. "We had a camp. And afterward we all lived with host families for one week. On June 10, I came to Naples for school. My host family is here and Sofiia came September 2. So, from that time we were both here going to school and practices and stuff. It's good here. Good team, good school. All the girls try to support us. Help us if we like. They're so sweet and good to us. Coach, too, he always gives good advice. It's so pretty here. Beautiful streets.”

Outten feels that Lely is a good fit for Kiritsa and Rubanova.

“We have a lot of players of Haitian descent,” Outten said, “75 percent of our team is from Haiti. Their families are from Haiti. They’re in very similar situations. I tell my girls that everybody has a story. No matter if they're Haitian, black, white, Mexican…everybody has a story. It's about how we embrace that story. The culture at Lely is just diverse. There's nowhere like this."

Since Kiritsa and Rubanova joined the team, Lely’s basketball fortunes have skyrocketed. They provide a huge shot in the arm to a team that was already putting things together.

Outten is in his third year as head coach of the Trojans. His rookie season at the helm was a humbling one.

“The first year we went 3-20,” Outten said. "They laughed at us. So we built and we built and we worked. And shout out to my girls. I mean, they haven't really had a month off in two years. They put a lot of work in. I've got to tip my hat to them. I push them, and they go. They haven't stopped yet.”

By year two, Otten’s squad had improved to 8-15. Now they’re 16-8 and riding an 11-game winning streak into the district tournament that started Wednesday, February 7, after the Coastal Breeze News deadline. If the Trojans win their district opener Wednesday, they will play for the district championship Friday night. As top seed in the district, the Trojans will play at home throughout the tournament.

There’s another player who Outten credits with his team’s success, senior captain Hulyessha Prudhomme, the team’s point guard.

“She gets it done in the school, in the community,” Outten said, "she gets it done on the court. She's my all-around. She represents Lely. And that's what a captain is to me.”

"I've been on the team for four years now,” Prudhomme said. “Our first year, it was a little rough for us because we weren't really connecting as a team. We were just like individuals playing as individuals. I think we've grown together, and we actually play as a team, as you can see on the court now with our winning streak. We’ve just been learning how to play together and to be a team. Like one whole. When we get on the court, it's not one person, it's one ball, one team. That's our motto. Our winning streak was well earned. We put in the work. We come to practice every day. We're going to put in the work so that we can continue on our winning streak and go to districts.

We plan on winning that and going on to regionals as well.”

Kiritsa and Rubanova are loving their experience at Lely.

“Our team is so nice,” Rubanova said, "Just from the first days when I first came. They were so kind to me. They were so friendly. And they always help me when I ask something. They ask how I'm feeling and how my family is doing and all that stuff. It was like no trouble with the girls. From when we first met, we started to sense that we would be good friends.”

Kiritsa agrees.

“I love our team,” Kiritsa said, “and I'm proud of them. We just did a great job together all season, and hopefully, we'll just keep our winning streak going.”

“Hopefully, we will keep winning and go to the regional championship, and maybe after that, we will go to the state championship,” Rubanova said. "But it all depends on us. So, we will try our best. We're much better now. When we just came it was hard to play with each other because we are from different teams. But now, after all the games we've played together, we’re feeling each other on the court, we're better with passes, better with all the stuff. So, I think we have a chance, and we will try our best."

Rubanova said the team bonded in Friday’s 77-74 double overtime win at Canterbury. Kiritsa scored 34 points in the win, Rubanova scored 24. Rubanova has great respect for Kiritsa’s game.

“She always knows when she should pass,” Rubanova said. “She's not selfish. If she sees that she can pass, she will. She has like five or six assists for each game and girls can score open layups because she gives passes which defenders can’t see. She's a good shooter, nice shooter. And she can score amazing layups and she can score jump shots.”

Kiritsa appreciates Rubanova’s game, too.

“I like her three pointers,” Kiritsa said of Rubanova, “I’m proud of her. We play well together.”

Both players aspire to play college basketball and possibly even professional basketball. But for now, their hearts and minds are with their home country.

“Sadly, I don't know yet where we will be in our future,” Rubanova said, "so we will see as it gets closer to summer what we should do next. It's hard because I’ve been here almost one year and I haven’t seen my parents or my brother, all my friends, in all this time. So, I don't know. It's hard. I like school here. I like how it all happened. But I also don't see my parents, so I don't know."

“I would like to go home and see my parents,” Kiritsa said. "But here I can start building my basketball career. So, it's better for me here. But I want to go and see my parents.”

The Ukrainian duo stay in constant contact with their parents and read news from back home. They also have strong memories of the strife there. 

“All the time it's sirens,” Rubanova said. "Almost every day. You don't know where the bomb will fall, so you just need to hide and pray to God that you and your family will be safe. I’m from near to Kyiv. They're always trying to bomb Kyiv because it’s the capital. There’s all this fighting. You read in the news that soldiers can't sleep enough. They don't have enough staff. It's just so hard to understand. It's someone's father or son or brother. I have a friend whose father is a soldier, and she is so scared for him because you don't know what will happen tomorrow, what they will do. They're killing them. They're doing bad stuff. And it's so hard to understand why it's happening and when it will be over."

Kiritsa has similar feelings.

“It’s so hard to read news every day,” Kiritsa said. “I live in a city near Romania, so it's more safe than other cities that are closer to those fighting places.”

The ladies do get to talk with their families.

“I talk with them every day a couple of times because I have a close relationship with them,” Rubanova said. "I always check the news channel about my city. And always when there’s a siren and maybe bombs, I always text or call them. Ask if they're fine. Ask where they are. It's so hard because you cannot do anything.”

Rubanova and Kiritsa have become like sisters. They are both thankful for their host family in Naples.

“Our host family is so nice to us,” Rubanova said. "Our host mom is also Ukrainian. She's from Ukraine. So, it's easier because she speaks our native language. And she understands us better than anyone here. So, we're so thankful to her and to her husband, to her daughters. She comes to all of our games. She always records us for our parents. She always talks to them. We're in a good relationship. Me and Sofiia are so thankful to them. They're so nice and they always like spending time with us. During school time, we don't have much time because it's school, practice, and we're at home at like seven, and you just want to eat, go shower and sleep because we need to wake up at six and school starts at seven."

“I am so thankful for them,” Kiritsa said. “They feel like a second family. They're all so nice to us.” 

Outten has thoroughly enjoyed coaching Rubanova and Kiritsa.

“Sasha is very outgoing,” Outten said. "She brings a smile. She's very happy. Sofiia is more laid back. She is shy. She's coming out of her shell. But when she goes on the court, she's a dog. She just wants to play basketball. We picked on her because she got two technical fouls this year for slamming the ball. She was saying, let's go! She has some emotions. The kid goes through a lot, she just does not express it yet. They're both sophomores. They're young."

Outten said his team’s double overtime win over Canterbury provided a glimpse of the Lely family in action.

“Last night, we went double overtime and our boy’s team just embraced them,” Outten said. "Their boys team left. Our boys’ team stayed and you would have thought it was a home game for us. I mean, they had a crowd cheering for them every time they made a shot. The teachers and coaches here are like a true family. You don't have that anywhere else. And that's a credit to boys coach Fritz Jacques. I mean, what he's built here. I believe that his culture here is family. Community. We copy a lot of his stuff. I look up to Fritz. I mean, he knows his stuff, and he built this place up.”