This Saturday, the Carlmont girls varsity basketball team played the Mountain View Spartans in their third game of the season, losing 41-32. Climbing back from an early deficit, the Spartans stretched their lead in the fourth quarter and emerged as the victors.
The Scots jumped out to an early lead, as senior Kiana George kicked off the game with a free throw. Senior Joslyn Moore scored the following four points for Scots. By the end of the first quarter, the Scots led the Spartans 8-5.
After halftime, the Spartans started to close in on the Scots’ lead. Spartan senior Annie Eggleton tied the game 18-18 within the first minute of the third quarter, followed by a free throw from Spartan sophomore Mikayla Kim, which was quickly countered by three points from Moore and Scots sophomore Ale Nelson.
Before the fourth quarter, the Scots were behind 29-24. Starting off the last quarter, Scots freshman Willow Ishibashi-to scored the first two points, and Moore closed the gap to 29-27 with another free throw.
Soon enough, the Spartans went on a scoring run as baskets from Spartans senior Lauren Dove, Kim, and Eggleton ended the game.
Today was probably our best effort defensively.
— Xavier Cook
With six fouls from the Scots and ten from the Spartans, the game’s physicality was especially noticeable. From the coach’s perspective, the Spartans also had another thing that worked in their favor.
“We didn’t turn the ball over [this game]. In the last two games, we had 53 turnovers total. That was huge for us,” said Spartans coach Xavier Cook.
After the win, Spartans players celebrated and reflected on the beginning of the season. For players returning to the Spartans after their last season was affected by COVID-19, this current season holds high hopes.
“I’d say [this year] is a lot better. Last year, we struggled with all the injuries, and with the COVID-19 season, it was super difficult to get back in the gym after a long time out,” Eggleton said.
After the disappointing loss, a Calrmont player agreed that there were things that needed to be improved.
“[Scots head coach Richard Stevens] told us that we have to work on our shooting. I kind of agree with that because, throughout the game, we had a lot of good, open shots, but we couldn’t knock them down,” Ishibashi-to said.
Agreeing with Ishibashi-to, Scots assistant coach Ann Sbardellati offered up a few other elements of the Scots’ game that needed to be worked on but noted that it is early in the season.
“We need to increase our shooting percentage for sure. Our help defense and shifting need to develop; we have a good amount of pre-season left before the league, so I feel like we’ll be able to develop a lot more,” Sbardellati said.
With a long pre-season ahead, the Scots have time to develop the needed skills before beginning league play. The Scots have their next preseason match-up against the Half Moon Bay Cougars on Dec. 10th, according to MaxPreps.
