On the rim for spot in CIF playoffs
GIRLS BASKETBALL Up-and-down season in new league makes every game important.
Senior Sarah Milik attempts to kick out the ball in their second loss in Mt. Baldy.
The Diamond Bar High School girls basketball season has been a rocky one, going from tough losses to blowout wins.
The team struggled against Irvine, losing 54-30, Don Lugo, 49-29, and Chino, 44-36, but crushed Chaffey, 54-7, and managed a close win versus Montclair, 44-41.
The variety of skill levels of their opponents has impacted the way the coaching staff and players approach practice.
“It’s definitely way easier to learn from games like Irvine, because usually when you lose and don’t play well, you make a lot of mistakes and it’s easy to see where you went wrong. Whereas opposed to when you have huge wins when everything looks good,” head coach Marcus Hughes said.
Because the team has been missing a lot of shot attempts in recent games, the players practice different scoring situations, such as shooting off screens and driving into an open lane. Watching videos of past games also helped the players with correcting their movement and situational awareness.
“The Don Lugo game was tough because our shots weren’t falling. We’ve definitely learned that it’s important to keep up the intensity even when shots aren’t falling and that talking is key,” senior starter Angela Hung said. “We’ve also been looking at film and seeing what mistakes we made and correcting them.”
Despite shots not falling for the Lady Brahmas against Don Lugo, Hung helped secure a win in their next game against Montclair, contributing 17 points for the team.
The loss against Chino was surprising for the Brahmas who beat them by 28 points earlier in the league season. During the game, the team led in points up until the end of the first half, but Chino approached the second half differently and the Lady Brahmas were unable to respond.
The team had a rough tournament experience over winter break, which Hughes looked at as a learning experience. Though the team finished the Buena Park tournament 1-3, the experience gave other players a chance to get playing time due to the absence of multiple starters from vacation and injury.
“It affected the team a decent amount, it always hurts when you’re missing some of your best players, but what it did was force some of the other girls to step up,” Hughes said. “Although we didn’t necessarily win any games, a lot of the girls got a chance to get better.”
Junior Karen Shao took advantage of the opportunity as she averaged 18.3 points per game during the tournament, and was also instrumental to the only win the Lady Brahmas had.
Nearing the end of their league season, the team heads into their eighth game in fourth place, and in the running for CIF playoffs. Hughes feels optimistic about the upcoming game against Chaffey, who is last in the league.
“We definitely feel good about it, it is an important game—every league game is an important game when your goal is to try to win league. We’ve been preparing and we’re ready for the test,” Hughes said.
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