Carlmont’s JV girls basketball team dominated Burlingame, completing the match with more than double their opponent’s score.
The game had a quiet start, ending the first period with Carlmont leading 6-5. However, the Scots pounced on the Panthers in the second period, expanding the gap between the scores and shutting down any lingering hope of a close match.
The Scots scored 16 points in the final half of the match and held the Panthers to 16 points total, resulting in a definitive score of 35-16.
Though it was a JV team, the roster for the game consisted mainly of freshmen.
According to Dhatri Vennela, a sophomore, not enough freshmen tried out to create a separate team and there were no coaches available. The freshmen who wanted to play were placed on JV as a solution.
“It’s a good way to give new members playing time,” Vennela said.
Both teams called several time-outs throughout the game, which proved to be a shift in momentum for the Scots. After a time-out in the second period, the Scots scored seven consecutive points with two minutes left, while the Panthers scored none. A similar situation occurred in the third period when the Scots scored six points after a time-out while the Panthers again scored none.
Despite the impressive point gap, players felt there was still room for improvement.
“I think I could have done better,” said Izzy Romero, a sophomore on the team. “I missed two layups, which I should have made.”
Individual performances are critical in team sports but pointless if a team does not function well together.
“Playing as a team and having good chemistry is one of the most important things when playing basketball,” said freshman Amber Lee. “One person can be really good, but you can’t play alone.”
Although athletes should share their successes with teammates, mistakes are inevitable and are what athletes learn and grow from, whether from their own mistakes or those of their teammates.
“I think everyone could have done better, but we gave it our all as a team and pulled through with the victory,” Lee said.
The ability to recognize room for growth is a skill that people often overlook. However, it is an essential piece of being an exceptional athlete.
In the future, Romero and Lee expect much improvement from themselves and their team.
“From this game, we can see that we’ve already started to improve a lot as a team,” Romero said. “By the end of the season, we’ll be performing really well.”
