The varsity girls basketball team (11-12 overall, 3-5 Peninsula Athletic League) came up short against the Hillsdale Knights (11-11 overall, 2-5 PAL) on Tuesday, Feb. 6 with a final score of 48-38 in a tight game. The double-digit final point differential is not indicative of the competitiveness of the contest.
The Dons started off slow, with careless passes leading to turnovers and easy offense for the Knights, which dug the Dons into a hole. This deficit was hard to cut into early on, but some interior offensive production from senior forward Maya Pappas helped the Dons remain in striking distance. Along with Pappas, sophomore guard Lauren Pong also helped the Dons muster some offense in the first half through her perimeter shooting.
Led by the scoring of senior guard Maya Yoo, the Dons further cut into the lead in the third quarter, bringing it down to a two-point deficit. From there the game remained extremely close, but a couple of lucky bounces for the Knights gave them two crucial three-point shots including one in the waning seconds of the third quarter.
The third quarter shot gave the Knights a jolt of energy and they rolled into the fourth quarter with momentum. From there, a few costly turnovers led to some easy transition points for the Knights.
Even in the face of the expanding deficit the Dons continued to battle. Unfortunately, the transition points for the Knights started to add up in the fourth. Those easy points, combined with a few late-game free throws, caused the deficit to expand to the differential that the scoreboard read at the final buzzer.
Coach Sam Manu acknowledged the Dons’ passing as their main pitfall throughout the game.
“It’s just like the [Golden State] Warriors, they’re amazing,” Manu said. “But when they start having turnovers they really slow down. We were just passing the ball to them and giving away quality possessions to turnovers and bad passes.”
Even after this loss the Dons still have much to keep their head up about. In the week preceding the contest with Hillsdale the Dons pulled out two hard fought wins over the top two teams in their league at Mills (16-6 overall) and Menlo-Atherton (14-9 overall). These wins provided a strong sense of hope for the Dons, as they proved that this team has the capacity to shake some things up in the playoffs.
“Beating the two top teams in our league shows how much we have developed as a team,” Yoo said. “It shows that even though we have struggled at times this season we keep persevering and continue to grow with each other as a team.”
Leading up to the wins over Mills and Menlo Atherton, the Dons were slumping hard. With five straight league losses, the team seemed to lack an offensive identity and struggled to pull out close games. Even in the face of these struggles, Manu continued to preach a positive mindset geared around problem solving. He instilled a belief in his team that the problems they faced were put in front of them for a reason, that reasoning being that they have the tools and ability to solve these problems. Overall, this leads the team to believe that the struggles are tests that they allow them to walk out better on the other side.
The Dons’ commitment to defense and maximum effort in everything they do carried them through the slump, and helped them find an identity through their struggles.
“Our team has this competitive nature and just like this kind of hustle culture,” Pong said. “Every time we play defense, we just know we gotta get it.”
As the Dons enter the Central Coast Section playoffs they look to bounce back from their loss against Hillsdale and play to the strengths that helped them take down Mills and Menlo Atherton. The Dons have displayed an immense amount of grit and determination through their perseverance this season, and they enter the playoffs with their eyes set on another successful run.
The team will play their first CCS game on Feb. 16.
