On Friday, December 6, Irvington Girls Varsity Basketball played against Milpitas High School in their second game of the annual Washington High School winter tournament. The game resulted in a loss of 35-53, but nonetheless, the team’s morale and hustle shined throughout.
Although the tournament began with a rough start, the team worked to refine their game by focusing on incorporating their new players. As the new players create a new, changing dynamic, the team is working to adjust to it and perfect their play for the rest of the preseason and regular season. “We’re a really young team this year, so we aren’t really focusing on executing any new plays, but rather just teaching the new girls plays we’ve used in the past. The rest of the seniors and I are embarking on that and taking on that leadership role to make sure everyone is on the same page,” said Captain Lauren Trinh (12).
The first half of the game kicked off with the teams playing at a fast pace as the girls played strong defense and effectively communicated. The girls played aggressively, seizing rebound opportunities swiftly and rotating well on defense. But, the team still struggled to score and get past Milpitas’ resilient defense. They mainly had difficulty moving the ball around on offense and driving into the paint, which added to their trouble scoring. However, some players such as Ishneet Hundal (11) were able to later take advantage of open opportunities in the post and help increase the Vikings’ score. The first half ended with a score of 13-32.
The girls picked up the pace in the second half, outscoring Milpitas. Head Coach BJ commented, “We decided to switch up at the end, moving from a zone to a man defense. That was the biggest adjustment we had to make today.” Hundal and Maya Sompalli (12) made the best of this adjustment, effectively double-teaming Milpitas’ point guard in the fourth quarter.
The team became more comfortable on the offensive end as well. Trinh mentioned, “We were doing a lot of pick and rolls, and we were getting good offense off that.” The girls also put up points on the scoreboard through free throws, capitalizing on aggressive plays.
The new freshman recruits performed well too. “One of the biggest successes of the game was to see the freshmen get in there and score points. They’re also really aggressive which is an important trait to have as a new player,” Coach BJ explained. The game concluded with Anisha Telukuntla (9) hitting a 3-pointer, leaving the game with a final score of 35-53.
When asked about goals for the rest of the season, both Trinh and Coach BJ mentioned that they would like to focus on putting up more points and moving the ball around more.
Trinh also commented on the importance of participating in tournaments like this one. “I think tournaments like this are good because we get exposure to many teams that we usually don’t play since they are outside of Irvington’s league. We can see where we make mistakes prior to the regular season and how we can improve based on all the teams’ offense and defense.”
The tournament concluded on Saturday, December 7, with an Irvington win against Livermore, displaying their resilience. The next girls basketball home game will be played on December 17 against Kennedy High School.
