Junior shooting guard Tanner Tripp has come a long way in her basketball career since she started in the Itty-Bitty Basketball league she started playing in at age four. She now starts for the varsity team and earned a letter her sophomore year.

Tripp dedicates her time to playing year round. She also plays volleyball in the fall. She’s managed to make a lot of friends through her experience with basketball.

“I play AAU year round with people from other schools and I’m friends with a lot of them,” Tripp said. “I also get really close with the people at school that I play with because we’re with each other all day, every day.”

Tripp has been a part of the Mill Valley basketball program since her freshman year.

“We have a good program, amazing coach and fun girls to be around,” Tripp said.

Tripp has played with the same group of six girls since her seventh grade year, including her good friend junior Stephanie Lichtenauer.

“One of my best memories is when Stephanie Lichtenauer made the buzzer beater against Bonner our sophomore year,” Tripp said. “It was crazy because we won and it was an intense game the whole time.”

Being able to play with her same group of friends for five years now has made basketball that much more enjoyable for her.

“I like that we have another whole year to play together,” Tripp said.

Despite an unsuccessful start to the season, the team has been able to improve its playing.

“It’s been fun, and our team’s really learned how to stick together,” Tripp said. “We started off 0-3 and going on a 13-0 winning streak just showed we weren’t going to give up.”

Tripp has a few superstitions she follows before every game.

“I have to wear white Nike socks for each game,” Tripp said. “And Stephanie [Lichtenauer] has to roll up my sleeves before every game.”

Tripp plans to play again next year and has thought about continuining her basketball career after high school.

“I kind of want to play in college at a small school or something on the coast,” Tripp said. “That would be sweet. I haven’t really looked into too much though.”