On Friday night, the Lady Dons (10-7 overall, 3-2 Peninsula Athletic League) suffered a 40-24 loss to rival Hillsdale (12-5 overall, 5-0 PAL) in the first home quad of the year.
Aragon was led by junior guard Katelyn Wong and freshman point guard Lydia Manu, who each were good for seven points.
However, the Lady Dons had difficulty putting the ball through the net throughout the game, but not because of a lack of shots: “Our shots [just] weren’t falling. We had a lot of open shots,” adds Wong.
Aragon was in the game for the first half, going into the break down 13-8. But as the third quarter rolled around, the Lady Knights found their hot hand, and blew the game open as they outscored the Lady Dons 12-5 in the quarter.
“Once they got a bigger lead we broke down mentally,” says Wong, “and I guess we need to strengthen our mental game.”
As proven in their Dec. 3 beatdown of Jefferson in which Aragon scored 64 points, the talent is there — it seemed that the Lady Dons were simply having an off-night on Friday.
“There’s gonna be times when your shots aren’t gonna fall, you’re not gonna be rebounding, or your passes aren’t straight,” explains junior forward Kelsey Dobbs. “It happens.”
Hillsdale’s play was much more consistent, as junior guard Talea Jones and senior point guard Caitlyn Low scored 10 points and eight points respectively.
Despite losing the rivalry game by double-digits, the girls didn’t seem too worried about the outlook for the rest of the season. Of the 13 players on the roster, only three are seniors, and five are underclassmen — two of whom started in Friday’s game. Compared to Hillsdale’s zero underclassmen, it was apparent on Friday that the Lady Knights had more experience and maturity.
“Their team is all seniors, juniors, and we have a freshman as our point guard, two sophomores starting, and then juniors,” says Dobbs. “We don’t have those years of experience. We got a lot of girls coming out pretty nervous, and I think that’s what lost us this game.”
The girls are already looking forward to their Feb. 10 rematch against Hillsdale, a game in which their expectations are much higher.
“I think there’s a lot they gotta work on and there’s a lot we gotta work on,” concludes Dobbs. ” And once we get that, I think it’s gonna be a really fun game… We are coming.”
