The girls JV basketball team suffered another loss against Valley Christian High School, 7-45, on Jan. 24.
Sophomore Emily Hayes attributes the loss to the absence of the team’s more experienced players – herself and sophomore Bella Mathisen.
Hayes was unable to play due to a chest bruise that she got after playing in the varsity game Jan. 20. However, she says she will be playing in the team’s next game on Friday.
Mathisen played in the girls’ varsity game instead. Since players can’t play on two teams in the same day, she was not allowed to play with the JV.
Hayes, who attended the game, also said the girls weren’t communicating or setting screens well, and, obviously, their shots were not going in.
Despite that, freshman Jewel Turner sank two baskets, one of them a free throw.
Both coach Latonia Pitts and sophomore Chloé Collinwood said sophomore Yanele Ledesma helped fill the hole created by Hayes’s and Mathisen’s absences.
“Yanele played very good offense (by) being open for passes and shots,” Collinwood said. “Also, she put up a strong defense by keeping on her man and even managing to block one of the bigger players.”
Pitts added that Ledesma played with good sportsmanship the whole game.
“She never complained or made excuses,” Pitts said. “She played hard with a big smile on her face. Wherever the action was, so was she.”
While Pitts does not think that the girls can defeat Valley Christian High School in their next game, she said they will definitely learn from this loss.
Their next game is away at Valley Christian High School, on Friday Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m.
—By Emma Boersma
