Wrapping up the week with a third win, the varsity girls maintained the lead throughout the entire game, crushing Cristo Rey, 47-18.
Sophomore Yasmin Gupta led the team with 18 points.
Closely following were senior Julia Owaidat and freshman Heidi Johnson, with 12 points apiece.
Johnson played an important role defensively as well, said coach Matt Vargo
He also said she was very observant during the Cavs’ Spongebob play.
Yes, Spongebob.
Early in the second quarter, the Saints, as well as the fans, were perplexed when Vargo kept yelling “Spongebob! Spongebob!” to the girls.
Spongebob is one of the offensive plays the Cavs run when the opponent plays man-to-man defense.
Spongebob gets the girls into the four corners of their offensive half, so they have more playing space.
Johnson also opened herself up to thwart the defenders.
Senior Julia Owaidat goes in for a layup.
In addition to their defense and new attempts at getting the ball around, the girls improved on one of their weaknesses: rebounding.
“Each girl got two-plus rebounds,” Vargo said. “And (rebounding) has been something I’ve been preaching for a while now.”
Gupta and sophomore Esme Bruce-Romo led the team in rebounds, with 11 and nine respectively.
According to Vargo, the Saints were a short team.
The Cavs sank through 11 of their 23 free throw attempts, the greatest number of few throw attempts yet.
By the end of the first quarter, the girls were up, 16-4. In the second quarter, the Saints tried to make a comeback, but ultimately couldn’t, ending in a 24-10 lead for the Cavs.
Towards the end of the second quarter, sophomore Annya Dahmani fell during a play, injuring her leg. She limped back to the bench with about four minutes left before halftime.
However, after halftime, she returned to the game with no problems.
In the third quarter the girls were still up, 36-12. By the end of the game, they had scored 11 more points while Cristo Rey scored only 6.
Vargo said he does think there is still room for improvement offensively and defensively.
“Our press was spotty,” he said. ”We need to improve our (full-court) press.
“We also need to work on passing. Sometimes we miss that last pass before the basket, and that blows the shot for us.”
The girls next play Wilton Christian at home on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 6 p.m.
—By Chardonnay Needler
