The buzzer sounded on Friday, Feb. 13 signaling not only Girls Basketball’s 59-33 win against Monrovia, but also the end of a long curse. The Rams finished with a league record of 6-4, earning them a spot in C.I.F., a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in 20 years.
“I was extremely excited to make C.I.F. since it was my first time ever,” Junior Sabrina Law said. “We felt that we had proven everyone wrong about girls basketball.”
A combination of hard work and a strong team skill wise led to the girls’ success. Each year they’ve been improving and getting closer to C.I.F., and this year the Lady Rams truly believed in themselves, resulting in a C.I.F. spot. Coach Emmery Thompson also pushed the players to change old, bad habits so that they could improve both as individual players and as a team.
The Rams headed into their first C.I.F. game against Palos Verdes. The girls gave all their effort and worked together to finish the first half strong; however, small errors resulted in a tough six point loss. The girls have taken the loss as a good learning experience.
“It was overall a well played game and [we] stayed positive,” Senior Gaby Chan said. “However, we started to make bad passes and careless turnovers.”
The team worked diligently to gain their well-deserved spot in C.I.F., practicing everyday but Sunday from their last league game until the C.I.F. opener. During practices, they reviewed fundamentals and fixed both individual and team errors so that they could play flawlessly during real games.
In order to make it into C.I.F. and end the cold spell, the Rams went through the season one game at a time, communicating with one another the entire way. To prepare for upcoming games, the girls would watch film and avoid underestimating any team. They also felt motivated to get the school to acknowledge the girls basketball program; the team sought to improve by correcting any and all bad individual or team habits. Extra sets of eyes also helped the girls have a strong season.
“We had two assistant coaches this year, Coach Hjertstedt and Coach So,” Law said. “They each brought their own perspective, pointing out things that Coach T. might not always see.”
Coach George So and Coach Kyla Hjertstedt helped by giving extra advice and lending Coach Thompson two more sets of eyes. The three coaches combined were able to see much more during games and as a result, had a wide variety of opinions on what the team could improve on. In addition, having two more coaches gave the girls even more motivation to work their hardest. But no team is without its strengths and weaknesses.
“We’re not that tall, so our strength in shooting really helped,” Junior Kristin Takasugi said. “[Also] we’re a lot closer this year compared to years before, and this chemistry really helped us out on the court.”