Girls’ varsity basketball falls to Vacaville Christian in first game due to inexperienced refs, few players

With only six players to start the game and only four on the court by the second half, the girls’ varsity basketball team was ultimately defeated by Vacaville Christian, 54-68, on Nov. 28.

However, senior Alexa Mathisen said the team played extremely well, especially considering both she and junior Yasmin Gupta fouled out in the second half (Mathisen in the third quarter and Gupta in the fourth) and sophomore Heidi Johnson was injured twice on the court but continued playing due to a lack of substitutes. (Sophomore Bella Mathisen was sick, and junior Riya Rampalli was absent.)

“It was a very physical game. (But our team) was aggressive and played well, and (junior) Annya (Dahmani) played a great game. She scored many points and led the team. She stepped up especially with Yasmin and I on the bench and Heidi hurt,” Mathisen said.

Junior Katia Dahmani said that Vacaville Christian had “horrible sportsmanship” and that they constantly complained to the referees.

“Number 10 on the other team fouled Annya when she was going for (a) shot,” Katia said. “The ref called the foul, and number 10 started yelling at the ref saying it wasn’t a foul and yelling at Annya, too. And she was gesturing at her throat saying that Annya may as well have just choked her.”

Mathisen said that the referees didn’t seem to know what they were doing.

“The refs were young and inexperienced,” Mathisen said. “It seemed like they didn’t know the rules well. They would call fouls that were absolutely (wrong).

“They use these games to train the refs, and (I) could tell the older refs were doing their best to advise the younger refs, but they still (made) poor calls.”

The girls’ next game is to be determined.

By Emma Boersma

Print Friendly, PDF & Email