The girls’ basketball team lost in the quarterfinal round of CCS division III, marking the end of the Falcons’ first season in the De Anza League after three years.
After receiving a bye in the first round of CCS because they were seeded seventh, the team defeated Terra Nova High 75-56 at home in the second round on Feb 21. Senior point guard Kimberly Chou led the scoring with 23 points, followed by junior shooting guard Dharini Ramaswamy with 22 points and senior power forward Hannah Johnson with 16 points.
But they lost on Feb. 23 to Branham High 51-43 in the quarterfinals. Saratoga was up by three points with three minutes left, but Branham outshot the Falcons and pulled ahead for a win.
“We had a scrimmage with [Branham] at the beginning of the season and actually beat them,” Chou said. “So it sucks that we weren’t able to advance past the quarterfinals.”
The Falcons ended the season with an overall record of 14-12, and 2-10 in the De Anza league. Despite moving to the upper league, the team saw its share of victories, even if it struggled against tough opponents like Wilcox and Lynbrook.
“The best part of the season was our trip to Disneyland [in December]; we went down there and won the Santiago tournament,” coach Mike Davey said. “We had a great time there as a team.”
Chou said their teamwork was key to their success.
“As the season progressed, we got better as a team,” Chou said. “We bonded together as a team, got closer and built more trust in each other.”
The close bond between the team members culminated in the Feb. 15 senior night, which Chou felt was the highlight of the season despite their 56-24 loss to Wilcox.
“Senior night was really touching,” Chou said. “I thought that it was one of the better senior nights that I’ve seen.”
With the season over, the team can look back with fond memories.
“I’m always pretty disappointed when the season ends; I miss the girls,” Davey said. “They become your family, and all of the sudden you get divorced. It’s pretty tough when they’re all gone.”
Johnson finished her four-year varsity career as the leading scorer in the school’s history. She totaled 1,105 points. For her part, Chou finished as the school 10th all-time leading scorer with 396 points.
The team will lose seniors Chou, Johnson, senior guard Michelle Won and senior guard Neha Vellanki to graduation. However, the remaining members such as Ramaswamy believe that they will be able to come back next season with vengeance with hard work.
“We’re graduating some talent for sure,” Davey said. “We’re going to have to work a lot harder in the off season this year.”
kimmmmmyyyy
quarter-finals for 3 yrs
division three based on school size
seed 7 out of 10, plus 2 wildcards
played 2nd round, lost
“we thought we could actually win the whole thing because the team that we lost to in quarterfinal, we actually had a scrimmage with them at the beginning of the season and we actually beat them in that scrimmage, like we had a good chance of actually winning”
“we were out? three with three minutes to go, and then we rebound a free throw and banked in a three so we lost”
“i felt sad because the season’s over”
“i felt that it was a disappointing loss, at least we were in a position to almost win”
“as the season progressed we got better as a team, we bonded together as a team, got closer, built more trust in each other, strengthened the bond of the team”
“senior night was really touching, i thought that it was one of the better senior nights that i’ve seen and this year i felt that it was way better”
how did you feel about the season overall? on the season ending?
how was senior night?
how was ccs? did you do better/worse than expected?
what was the best part of the season?
what do you think will happen next year once the 4 seniors graduate?
Davey
Ccs was good. We hoped to get a higher seed than we got, simply because our regular season demonstrated that we should’ve had a higher seed but we were able to —turn over with terr sjdasd and we were close with branum
Best part of the season was our trip to Disneyland, we went down there and won the Santiago — we went down there and shopped and went to Disneyland and had a great time there as a team
Season ending: I’m always pretty disappointed when the season ends, I miss the girls. They become your family and all of the sudden you get divorced. Its pretty tough when they’re all gone. Hopefully the girls had a great time this year, they had some memorable accomplishments
Hannah Johnson leading score in shs basketball history
Kim chou among the assist leaders in shs history
So I think that they had some memorable accomplishments and I hope to be back out and competing with a great season next year
We’re gradating some talent for sure so we’re going to have to pick it up in the off season so we’re going to have to work a lot harder in the off season this year
