Rivals Thump Girls’ Ballers

In a physical game with plenty of  fouls on both sides, the Matadors topped varsity girls’ basketball by 19 points on January 13.

In the 1st period Campolindo turned over the ball on 2 consecutive possessions. The Cougar’s Jessi O’Reilly grabbed a rebound and then nailed a 2-pointer to bring her squad to within 2 of the Mats, 16-14. That was as close as it would get however, as Miramonte increased their lead, 40-29 by the end of the half.

In the midst of the 3rd period, Ashley Thoms scored 8 points in a row for the Cougars, including a 3-pointer. Nevertheless, the Mats would go on too win 77-59.

Head coach Art Thoms said, “I thought our game plan was good. The times that we executed the game plan, we did really well and it really came down to second chance shots.” He added that junior Haley Van Dyke was a highlight in spite of the loss. “She didn’t have her [personal] best game, but defensively and rebounding she did a good job,” said Thoms.

While his squad was unable to upend the traditionally strong Miramonte team, the Cougars’ coach said the season has been going well, and that the team is right where he “expects it to be.”

As for the setback against the their rivals, Junior Aubrey Wagner noted that her team executed the game plan well.”I think one of the big strengths that Miramonte has is shooting 3’s, so we went in with the game plan to contain that and I think we did a good job of that,” said Wagner. “I think that we have a lot of effort in teamwork and we had conjugation from every single player on the court- I don’t think that one person won or lost that game.”

“I don’t think it was anything that we can’t improve on,” she added. The Cougars will have another shot at the league leaders on February 3 at Miramonte.