[slideshow_deploy id=’5103′] (Photos by Cissy Shi and Daniel Hernried)
Girls’ Basketball
Before the first game of the season, the girls’ basketball team was worried. Up against Freedom Christian with only seven players on the roster (meaning only two substitutes), they thought they were sure to lose.
But instead it was the opposite.
The girls overcame Freedom in the season opener, 30-26, Dec. 3.
Junior Isabella Tochterman and sophomore Julia Owaidat carried the team’s points.
“I think this win will boost our confidence,” said freshman Natalie Brown. “Personally I could have done a lot better on offense—I got confused.”
Coach David Ancrum, however, disagreed with Brown. In fact, he was surprised by how many rebounds she had.
“Natalie had 11 rebounds, which is impressive for a freshman,” Ancrum said.
He also complimented the girls on ball handling and free throws.
The girls next play Global Youth Charter in the Redding Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 7.
Boys’ Basketball
The varsity boys’ basketball team narrowly lost to Freedom Christian in the first game of the season, 38-40, on Dec. 3.
“Some kids were kind of nervous since it was their first high-school basketball game,” junior Skovran Cunningham said.
The team has enough players for both a varsity and JV team, though they were combined for this game.
“The returning players—me, (junior George Cvetich) and (sophomore) Brad Petchauer—knew that we had a chance if we played hard because last year both our games came down to the wire—same as tonight,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham said the loss was due to many missed layups and free throws.
“We calculated that if we had made our layups and free throws, then we would have beat the team by 20 points,” Cunningham said. “But that doesn’t even include our turnovers.”
Nevertheless, the team did well on spacing during the second half. They were more aggressive and created many opportunities for shots.
During the game coaches yelled plays as the boys ran up and down the court.
For example, “Rolex” was a play used at the end of a quarter. Players would hold the ball in the last few seconds of that quarter, taking a shot just as it ended.
The boys next play Redding Christian at their holiday tournament on Friday, Dec. 6.
