Girls’ basketball: Depleted lineup forces players to play taller

Having won the Division III CCS Championships last year against South San Francisco, the girls on the basketball team are hoping to defend their title, but they will have to do so with a depleted lineup.

With the loss of key players, Class of 2016 point-guard Nicole Prowse and posts Eleni Spirakis and Erin Norris, the girls will have to fill their spots and shift around by playing more major roles for coach Mike Davey.

This year, the team has a starting five consisting of junior post Harshini Ramaswamy, sophomore center Kirstin Kruka, point-guard Rachel Davey, shooting guard Aryana Goodarzi and forward Jenny Qian, all seniors.

Due to the team’s lack of height and natural post players, Davey is trying to has been shifting guards to play in the paint.

“Our size issue will force us to move players around and use a four-guard lineup on occasion this year,” Davey said. “That’s calmed some of my worries because we can shoot better and pressure better with four guards and [Qian] as the four. Against bigger teams, we will have to switch back to the equation of having two posts.”

The team also faces another challenge in size with only 10 players. Davey has brought up freshman center Ella Parr on the team and also has been pulling players from the freshman and JV to help out during practices in scrimmages and running full-court press.

“We have three real posts and will play bigger teams, so we will need Ella to be up to help when our girls get in trouble. It’s also important for her to learn from the older posts,” Davey said.

Despite these challenges, Davey is aiming to use the girls’ speed as an advantage in games. During practices, the girls have been focusing on pushing the ball up the courts on offense and conditioning to improve their stamina.

So far, their hard work has seemed to pay off. The girls have started strong and are currently 6-0 in preseason.

On Dec. 10, the girls achieved a 47-39 win against Monta Vista, defending their top place in the Monta Vista Tournament for three years in a row. Although the Falcons struggled to go against the Matador’s defensive press, they were able to break it through fast ball movement and passing.

“It feels great to be able to defend our title and win first place again,” Goodarzi said. “Though we weren’t able to play at our pace in the first half, I think we really pulled through in the end and played our hardest.”

On the second day of the tournament, the team beat rival Mountain View 56-46. Having both lost and won a game to the Spartans last year, the girls were ecstatic to triumph over them.

After the first quarter, the Falcons were down 13-12 due to the Spartans’ tough defense, but the Falcons were able to find their tempo once again in the second quarter. Gaining 19 points in the second half with Goodarzi’s 3-point shooting and Qian’s offensive rebound putbacks, the Falcons were able to catch up to the Spartans.

Earlier, the Falcons won 61-40 against Willow Glen on Dec. 8 in the first day of the tournament.  Since both main posts, Ramaswamy and Kruka were in foul trouble in the first half, guards were forced to quickly fill their positions; rebounding both offensively and defensively was a major key to their win. Improvements in communication during the second half also helped shut their opponents out to allow them only nine points in the last quarter.

The girls hosted Jefferson on Dec. 6, winning 57-45. With the Grizzlies leading 15-9 at the end of the first quarter, the team was able to fight back; they held their opponent to only nine points while earning 20 points in the second quarter.

The team was led by Goodarzi, who poured in 26 points while, Davey had eight points and eight assists and Qian with six points and 11 rebounds.

Traveling an hour away on Nov. 30, the team brought home a 61-42 win against El Camino. Once again, Goodarzi led the team in scoring with 29 points, Davey with 11 assists and Ramaswamy pitched in 19 points in the paint.

Just a week before, the girls achieved a blowout victory against Andrew Hill, ending the game 67-15. The team scored most of their points from layups and inside paint shots by utilizing their speed to swiftly run transition offense. By the first half, the score was 42-8. The girls kept up with their aggressive defense and kept the opponent to gain only one point in the third quarter.

“I think we’re off to a really great start in preseason so I’m hoping that we can really bring this momentum in future games and to league,” Ramaswamy said . “What we’re doing right now is trying to improve our weaknesses so that in league we can just polish everything up.”

The Falcons play Leland tomorrow at home or away and will play against Half Moon Bay on Dec. 22. Over winter break, the girls will travel to Los Angeles on Dec. 26-30 to participate in the Shawnee Harris Memorial Tournament.