Olivia Bayless / Aragon Outlook Freshman Jordan Beaumont dribbles into an attacking position. Olivia Bayless |
The Aragon girls basketball team, sitting as the 10th seed in the Central Coast Section and second seed in the Peninsula Athletic League, (10-2 PAL, 16-11 overall) dominated the court with their 53-33 win against Woodside (1-10 PAL, 12-11 overall) in their first CCS playoff game on Feb. 19.
The game started off with Woodside winning the tip-off but attempting to score on their own basket. Aragon’s junior guard Angie Olive, got the rebound and scored Aragon’s first two points with composure. The first quarter ended with the Dons doubling Woodside’s points, finishing with a score of 14-7.
“I think our best quarter tonight was probably our first quarter,” said sophomore forward Savannah Mapa. “I think we started off pretty good, just communicating on defense and doing some plays … and just looking up and looking forward to handle the ball.”
In the second quarter, the Dons demonstrated their intensity. Within the first six minutes of the second quarter, freshman point guard and shooting guard, Jordan Beaumont, stole the ball at half-court and sprinted to the basket tailed closely by a Woodside player. Beaumont managed to get her shot off as she fell to the ground, scoring two points for her team. After, the Dons energy picked up.
“I think today was successfully good,” said senior center and captain Lia Lilomaiava. “I think the reason why is because we were mentally there with our energy… It kept us through the game, on and off the bench.”
The Dons also managed to almost completely shut out the Wildcats in the second quarter, only allowing them two points, which were earned on free throws.
“We had a very rough game last week, and after the [Feb. 11 CCS playoff] game [against South San Francisco] our team had to decide whether we wanted CCS or not,” said junior point guard and captain Lydia Manu. “We’ve been practicing to push through that hard loss … Tonight, it showed what our hard work was for.”
The Dons ended the night on a strong note, and never fell behind the Wildcats.
“I think our goal is to just take this as far as we can with everything that we have inside of us and just work together to keep going,” Lilomaiava said.
The Dons continued their winning streak with a 53-46 semifinals win against Leland High School (7-3 Blossom Valley- Mt. Hamilton League, 16-10 overall) on Feb. 21. Gaining a CIF championship, they beat Lynbrook (12-0 Santa Clara Valley- El Camino League, 22-5 overall) in the finals on Feb. 23, 53-48. They are set to play their first round of state competition on Feb. 26 against Eureka (5-3 Humboldt-Del Norte – Big 5 League, 21-10 overall).
