On Friday night’s game on January 31st, the Mills Varsity girls team showcased their skills of rebounding and sinking shots in the basket against the lady dons. With zero points at the end of the first quarter, it was hard for the dons to catch up against the Mills. Mills took advantage of fast break points of Aragon’s turnovers.
Mills star players of the game, Julia Gibbs and Aubrie Businger, caused much havak in the boards, with a combined 10 rebounds. Especially without star point guard, Briana Reynolds, the dons struggled to keep up with the pace of Mills. With the game winding down, the dons had numerous chances at the free throw line, but only capitalized on 12 of their 25 chances. The lady dons fought valiantly against Mills, but unfortunately came to loss of 27 Aragon to 49 Mills.
With the season progressing, the Aragon varsity girls basketball team are at a deficit of 3-5 in league and 7 wins to 11 losses in the season. The team is looking to win a game after three straight losses in their upcoming game against Woodside on Feb. 3rd. Briana Reynolds, the star point guard on the lady dons, was recently injured.
The players have to step up to the challenge to adjust their play style without her. Coach Gennaro has been pushing the team to effectively score and have smooth ball movement even with the Absence of Reynolds. At the beginning of the season, Coach Gennaro stated she wanted her team “to go to CCS(Central Coast Section Division II) and to become the top three in PAL.” The don’s girl varsity team is ranked in the middle of the pack of the California schools in CCS. With the team’s overall winning percentage at 38 percent, it is too early to tell their success in CCS. The lady dons are looking to make rebounding one of their priorities. An example is was the away game against mills, where the dons struggled to rebound against the players on the opposing team. They also are working on increasing their free-throw percentage with practice and persistence. Last season, the lady dons were unable to go to CCS.
Even Coach Gennaro said “we really don’t talk about last years, and we never dwell on the years that past and look forward to the future.” The attitude of the team to forget about the past and advance into future years is a very positive take towards the negativity that goes around the team. As stated before, the three game losing streak has affected the winning percentage of the lady done, but are hoping to capitalize on it.
With the mindset to be one of the top teams in the PAL division, the Seniors have to step up to encourage younger players to bring what they need to the table to accomplish their goals. This is not problem because Gennaro states “the girls I have so far are really getting along and are really getting close this year.” With this being said, it will be a breeze for the girls to help each other to add to to the team’s success. After a strong blow to the team’s winning record in the middle of the season, the lady dons are coming up with new strategies to make it to CCS and to place top three in PAL.
