The 2015-2016 basketball season is now underway and the 2015 state champion La Salle Falcons are expecting even more great things from junior Aleah Goodman.

Last year, Goodman helped the team to a 27-1 record and an amazing playoff run. Aleah Goodman is a three year varsity athlete and has made a big impact on the school’s basketball team.

Last season she averaged 13.5 points per game, 8 assist, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game. As a result of her strong accomplishments, Goodman is drawing attention from many Division I colleges across the country, and she has been on six unofficial college visits so far. (NCAA rules prohibit official recruiting visits until spring of the athlete’s junior year.)

To find out more, we asked Aleah a series of questions about her history with basketball, her feelings on this upcoming season, and her future college basketball plans.

When did you start playing basketball?

• I started playing basketball when I was four years old, so this will be my 13th year of playing basketball.

Where do you want to play basketball in college?

• I plan on playing college basketball at the Division I level. I’m not sure what college I want to attend but I’m keeping my options open. I want to go somewhere where I can play right away and contribute to the team.

What is your favorite basketball memory?

• My favorite basketball memory is when the La Salle girls varsity team won the state championship.

What colleges have you visited so far?

• I have gotten the opportunity to visit a few universities recently, [including] Oregon State, University of Arizona, Fresno State and Arizona State. My favorite college that I visited was Oregon State.

How much do you practice each a week?

• Before the season I worked out five days a week and on my days off I still gets shots up and do ball handling. Now that basketball season has started we will practice almost every day and on most days I will work out with my trainer for about an hour and most of the time I will just get a lot of shots up because during practice we work more on team stuff so getting in an extra workout by myself I can focus more on my own strengths and weaknesses.

What are your favorite things to do besides basketball?

• I do not have much time outside of basketball and school but when I do I like to spend time with my family and friends. Living in Battle Ground, my days end up being very long, leaving for school around 6:30 and then not getting home until 10 or so on most days. I do not get very much family time, so when I do have time off I like to be able to hang out at home and spend time with my family. In high school I have had to really learn how to balance my time between sports, school, family/friends time and also getting enough sleep.

Who is your favorite basketball player?

• Kobe Bryant is my favorite basketball player because I like the way he leads his team. He has the most confidence, which I like. If the Lakers are down he will take over and he trusts himself in clutch situations and so do his coaches. He has earned the trust from his teammates and coaches. He is a leader on the court and many people look up to him.

What is your main goal for this upcoming season?

• My main goal for myself would be to limit turnovers and be more consistent from the field. Also, a goal is to push my teammates to be at their full potential everyday.

Is this year’s team capable of making another deep playoff run?

• Yes, this year’s team is very capable of going back to Gill. We lost 3 seniors last year and their leadership played a big roll, but Ally Jansen and Shannon Tran will fill their shoes and we juniors will help. We are going to be short but we are used to that. Our conditioning and speed is a huge factor and will help us succeed.

What will be your biggest challenge this upcoming season?

• Our biggest challenge we will face will be our size. We are used to being a small team so we just have to be 10 times better at the other things. Our speed, conditioning, shooting, ball handling, defense etc. are better than most other teams which is needed because of the lack of size and height.