The girls and boys basketball teams at Whitman Middle School each completed a perfect season with wins Feb. 2.

The playoffs started Tuesday and both teams entered as number-one seeds.

"I'm expecting to go the championship," girls coach Mary Williams said. "I can say that with confidence."

Michael Johnson, coach of the boys team, said he expects good things for the team in the playoffs as long as the players can stay poised and focused, something that can occasionally be difficult for eighth-graders.

"The only team that can beat us at this point is us," Johnson said.

Success is not new for the Wildcat girls, usually placing first or second according to Williams.

She said the girls team is doing well this season because it has a lot of experience due to the excellent development of basic skills in community leagues, but also because the players bonded and work well together.

"We make sure that even though they come from different groups in the school, they play well together," Williams said.

Williams said she prides herself on her defenses, and it is the team's defense that has helped it win games.

The girls figured out how to play a trapping defense well during a game against Hamilton Middle School by trusting one another and creating turnovers, she said.

Winning games is also not a new experience for the boys' team, who made it to the championship last season, said Johnson. The Wildcats lost that game but Johnson said he felt this year's team is more talented all around.

The players are mentally and physically tough and know how to compete, he remarked. Johnson said it is rare to have a team as deeply talented as this one.

"Basically anyone can come into the game and play at a high level," he said.

John Verduin, an eighth-grader on the team, said the players have played together for a long time and know how to work well with each other at this point.

Johnson said the team's strength, due to the smart, athletic players, is its up-tempo, aggressive style of play. The Wildcats have also become able to handle other team's trapping and pressing defenses throughout the season.