Carlmont’s varsity girls basketball team beat the Hillsdale Knights 62-41 on senior night in their last league game on Friday, Feb. 9.
A ceremony celebrating the seniors kicked off the night, and seniors Ale Nelson, Charlotte Lin, Sydney Tao, Inaaya Omar, and Anne Garcia all started in the game.
In the first quarter, the Scots got a lot of steals and made many fast breaks. The first basket came from Nelson making a fast break layup, quickly followed by Lin and Tao both making threes. However, the Knights caught up by taking advantage of the Scots’ weak help defense in the first half of the game.
“In the beginning, we couldn’t guard their guards who drove a lot and we didn’t help each other when we got beat,” Lin said. “But we figured out how to stop them in the second half.”
The Scots continued to get steals in the second quarter, but so did the Knights. Less than halfway through, the Scots reached five fouls, giving away a lot of points to Hillsdale in free throws.
“We didn’t play great defense and fouled too much, so we’ll need to get better as we prepare for the Central Coast Section playoffs,” said head coach Richard Stevens.
In the last minute of the second quarter, Hillsdale also reached five fouls, putting Lin and Tao on the line and giving Carlmont three points. They finished off the half with Lin making a fast break layup, bringing the Scots to a 13-point lead at 39-26. Lin was the top scorer in the game with a total of 15 points.
The Scots came out in the third quarter with stronger defense and a three made by junior point guard Willow Ishibashi-To in the first three minutes.
I think I played well, facilitating for the seniors as much as I could. The team came with great intensity throughout the game and it was a great way to send the seniors off.
— Willow Ishibashi-To
“I think the game went really well and the energy was great throughout the whole game,” Ishibashi-To said.
In the third quarter, the passes made by the Scots were a lot cleaner and there were fewer fouls. However, the Knights stayed in the game, making 11 points in the third quarter. Three of those points came from a three made by Knights senior Jasmine Okumura.
Despite the Knights scoring, the Scots stayed ahead. Freshman point guard Sky Yee made back-to-back shots, bringing Carlmont four points and making her the top scorer of the quarter.
The fourth quarter was the lowest scoring quarter for both teams, with Carlmont scoring 10 points and Hillsdale scoring six. The Scots pushed their pace though and kept their lead, winning the game 62-41.
“Our seniors have played very well, all have improved over the course of the season and are now considered some of the league’s best,” Stevens said.
Coming to the end of her senior season, Lin was nostalgic about her experience.
“I’m gonna miss playing basketball so much and I can say I gave it my all in the game,” Lin said.
This was varsity’s last league game, but they still have yet to compete in the CCS playoffs.
“Our challenge now is to build on our success and prepare for the upcoming playoffs,” Stevens said.
