Battle to stay afloat in the Bay Division

Aragon basketball faces difficulties in the Bay Division.

As the basketball season draws to a close, the boy’s varsity team picks up its first league win in a face off against South San Francisco. Overall, both the boy’s varsity and girl’s varsity teams have faced a tough season in the Bay division. This year marks the first year Aragon’s boys are playing in the Bay division, and they are certainly feeling the heat. Meanwhile, girls have struggled with a dwindling team plagued with injuries.

Just two years ago, the Peninsula Athletic League rearranged the divisions for basketball. Rather than having divisions organized by locality, divisions were separated by skill level. Last year, the boy’s team’s excellent performance promoted them from the Ocean division to the Bay division. The Bay division is the most competitive of the three divisions. The girl’s team has been in the Bay division since the league reorganization.

This year, however, Aragon Boys are struggling in the higher division. On January 21, Aragon boys lost to Menlo Atherton. Several three-pointers shot by Max Liebergesell and Trevor Lahoz kept the boy’s team in contention throughout the first half. The second quarter ended with just a four point deficit, leading to a final score of 21-17 for Menlo-Atherton. Throughout the second half, however, Menlo Atherton picked up speed and brought the game to a close. The final score was 69-33 for Menlo-Atherton.

On January 28, the boy’s team played South San Francisco and earned their first league win. The game was tight until the third quarter where Aragon picked up a nine point lead. Senior Byron Ng sunk two three-pointers, quickly placing Aragon ahead. During the fourth quarter, however, South City shuffled their way to a 50-50 stalemate with 36 seconds left in the game. In the end, the hero was senior Alafolau Etu who raced down the court to secure two free throws, and thus a victory, for Aragon. The final score was 52-50.

One of the key difficulties for the Aragon boy’s was the loss of senior Aaron Eder due to injuries. Boy’s Varsity Coach Arjuna Manning-Laisne says “We had to rearrange all of our players and try out new players for point guard because we lost Aaron.” They have a record of 1-5 in league play, with an overall record of 6-14.

Difficulty due to injuries is a story the Girl’s Varsity team has heard all too often. What was originally an eleven person team dwindled down to seven with the injuries of senior Vanessa Smith, senior Jackie Sutow, and junior Make Ahoia. Consequently, the girls have had difficulties in rearranging positions as well as keeping up their stamina. Despite maintaining a lead throughout their game against Burlingame High School on January 26, the girls lost steam during the fourth quarter. Burlingame scored their winning shot in the last eight seconds of the fourth quarter.

In response to team limitations, Sutow says, “We just don’t have enough people on the bench right now.” Their league record is currently 0-6.

On January 28, the Varsity Girls played San Mateo ending with a loss. Still, the girls brought a tough game against San Mateo. Senior Felicia Dito often made quick steals and passed to junior Justine Kubo who made easy shots in the key. Sophomore Chanel Joyce notably made great rebounds, and freshman Alyssa Mangaoang consistently wowed the crowd with her spot-on three pointers. The girl’s team, however, was unable to defend against San Mateo’s star player Grayce Ujihara who racked up almost half of San Mateo’s points—twenty two in total. Overall, the game against San Mateo held no victory for Aragon. The final score was 55-37 for San Mateo.

Although Aragon’s teams have faced a tough season, future seasons look promising. Coach Mainning-Laisne says, “The big thing about this year’s team was improvement. This team has improved more than any team I’ve coached during my five years at Aragon.”

Girls Varsity Coach Annette Gennaro-Trimble strikes a similar note. Almost half of the Girls Varsity team is actually composed of underclassmen. She says “Because we’ve had so many injuries, we’ve given the younger players much more playing time. And with that, by next year, they will have much more experience.”