Sophomore shooting guard Anika Prasad screamed in frustration as a referee called her for a fifth foul during the last five seconds of the girls’ varsity basketball team’s home game against Los Gatos on Dec. 2. As the girls lined up for free-throws, new varsity coach Daniel Wallace paced back and forth in front of the bench glancing nervously at his team’s 44-42 lead on the scoreboard.
Fans of the Los Gatos team roared in triumph as senior point-guard Alexa Wong sunk the first free-throw, and the gym grew silent as she lined up to take a second shot with the score at 44-43. As the ball bounced off the rim, a mad rush for the rebound commenced and senior center Harshini Ramaswamy grabbed the ball and held it until the buzzer sounded, resulting in the team’s first victory against rival Los Gatos in five years.
Critical to the victory was freshman shooting guard Jane Loo, who scored 18 points. Loo joined the starting lineup this year and has become a key player for the varsity team, which started its preseason with a 2-2 record.
“Jane is a great addition to the team; she’s got a good knowledge of the game and is a great passer,” senior point guard Chloe Fung said. “She’s fun to play along with and has bonded well with the girls despite her unfamiliarity with the team.”
The Falcons also took home a win on Dec. 9, dominating Leland High 59-47. Ramaswamy attributed the win to the team’s improved ball movement, which gave them more open shots and allowed more players to score.
“One of the biggest problems in our earlier games was that we couldn’t feed the ball to our other scorers,” Ramaswamy said. “I think we improved on that front and it really felt like we were playing more cohesively as a team against Leland.”
Earlier, with starting power forward Kirstin Kruka too sick to play, the Falcons were apprehensive about hosting Carlmont, a team with a tall front line, on Dec. 7. The Falcons played a hard second quarter but ended up losing 49-39. The players took it as moral victory that showed that can compete with talented teams. Ramaswamy said several players stepped against Carlmont, including sophomore center Ella Parr, who had a personal record of 13 rebounds during the game.
“The Carlmont game showed great growth as a team and moving in the right direction despite the loss,” Wallace said.
On Dec. 5, the team fell at home to Cupertino High 57-32. The girls struggled to move the ball up the court against Cupertino’s press and as a result, were unable to execute their offense sets.
The Falcons are in the lower El Camino League this season and anticipate having ups and downs as they try to rebuild a team that saw seven players graduate last spring.
The bright spot so far are the three freshmen, Loo, Kaitlyn Yu and Iris Lee, all guards who are looking to fill the gaps left by alumni.
“I am really looking forward to the rest of the season because I get to play a sport I love and it is pretty fun playing with the upperclassmen,” Loo said. “Everyone on this team wants to get another CCS banner up in the gym, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to get it.”
Due to printing deadlines, the Falcon was unable to cover the team’s games against Del Mar on Dec. 12 and against Half Moon Bay on Dec. 14.