The JV girls’ basketball team kicked off Carlmont’s first quad game of the basketball season in the Carlmont vs. Menlo Atherton (MA) home game on January 12 but ultimately fell short and led to the first loss of the night.
“We went into the game thinking that we were going to lose. As a team, we need a better mentality so we can win,” said Gaby Pierce, a sophomore.
With fast players and a good offense, the Scots couldn’t keep up with MA and lost the game by more than ten points.
In the first quarter, the Bears started in the lead at 7-0. As Carlmont tried to move the ball around, MA would often steal the ball and go for a lay-up. Although they didn’t always convert the steal, the Bears were more aggressive and made more baskets.
Trying to stay in the game, sophomore Hanna Li was fouled and swished both of her foul shots.
Throughout the second quarter, the Scots tried to move the ball around but kept turning it over to the Bears. Not only was MA’s defense good, their offense was even better.
“It was hard to defend against them because there was no one back on defense as the safety,” said Gaby Goldman, a sophomore.
Finally, freshman Donya Khonsari made the first three-pointer for the Scots which got them rallied up. Even so, the offense needed to be more aggressive as the Bears got most of the defensive rebounds.
Discouraging Carlmont players, even more, one of the Bears stole the ball and made a shot just before the halftime buzzer, turning the score to 20-12 in favor of the Bears. Carlmont needed something to change in the halftime to get back in the game.
Carlmont’s varsity player Ava Brückner-Kockel, a sophomore, who was watching the game said, “They need to be smarter with the ball, they should value each possession they get.”
As the third quarter started, it seemed that the only way the Scots were going to score was by the other team fouling, giving them more free throws. But after Carlmont scored a couple of free throw points, MA would fight back and ended up making a three-pointer.
At this point, the Scots looked tired, as most of the same starters were playing throughout the game to keep it competitive. An exciting play of the game was when sophomore Gaby Goldman quickly passed the ball to Gaby Pierce, who nailed a lay-up and got the Scots crowd back into the game.
“That was my favorite play of the game,” Goldman said.
Despite closing the gap to make sure it wasn’t a blowout, Carlmont couldn’t overcome the Bears speed and aggressiveness, in which the low-scoring game ended at 36-23.
“At the practices, we’re going to work on pressure defense and playing aggressively. Also, we’re going to be running plays all the way through,” Coach Lazz, the JV assistant coach, said.
Their next game is a home game against Mills High School on January 16 at 4:00 p.m.
