After a competitive game against the Carlmont High School Scots, the MVHS varsity girls basketball team was able to defend home court, 53-42, setting their season record to 7-1.
Leading 15-9 at the end of the first quarter, the Spartans utilized the Full Court Zone Press defense to force turnovers on the other team, head coach Xavier Cook said. The Spartans’ aggressive defense was also able to force multiple timeouts for the other team.
“That is our best quality as of right now, until our offense can catch up,” Cook said.
Throughout the last three quarters, the Spartans’ defense was able to keep the Scots’ shooting percentage at around 30%.
“We aren’t always going to get offense, but we can get it back on defense,” junior shooting guard Alana Hernandez said.
Despite the Spartans’ significant lead, the Scots were able to bring the gap down to just one point, the score being 28-27 at the end of the first half.
“We have been having fast starts every game,” Cook said. “The thing we got to work on is the second quarter, where we go to sleep a little bit.”
Coming out of halftime, the Spartans were able to maintain their lead, due to numerous players scoring, including junior shooting guard and forward, Ellie Westgate.
“[Westgate] was nine for 12 from the free throw line, and she rebounded well,” Cook said.
In addition to Westgate, Hernandez led all scorers with 15 points at the end of the game, following with senior shooting guard Mikayla Kim’s 12 points.
“I did what I needed to do, I contributed points wise, I played my defense, I got into foul trouble, but overall, they all kept me up and kept me composed by knowing that I can trust my teammates,” Hernandez said.
After coming within one point of the Spartans, the Scots were defeated, having never taken the lead past the first quarter.
“We kept on working together and doing what we needed to do, and we ended up winning,” Hernandez said.
While this was their seventh win of the season, Cook and Hernandez said they believe that there are still some things that need to be worked on throughout the season for the team.
Starting off this season very strong, the Spartans have won every game except for their defeat, against Lincoln High School, in the previous game.
“With the exception of that game that we lost, we have been in control of every game, so we just gotta keep up that energy that we have, when we play.” Cook said.
Free throw making and aggressive defense were the main techniques that were successful for the team, leading to a successful win, Cook said.
“I think we are playing really well, better than we did last year around this time, and I think we can play a little bit harder and even better things will happen for us,” Cook said.
