As high school athletics transition from fall to winter sports, the Diamond Bar High School girls basketball team starts their season with some pre-season action. 

The Lady Brahmas opened up their pre-season with a tough away game against Brea Olinda High School. As a 10-time CIF Championship program, the team knew it was going to be a gritty game before even stepping on the court. Their game plan against Brea Olinda was to set the bar as high as possible and build off of it. Playing out their plan, junior Avril Ho and freshman Jalyn Winston led all scorers with eight points each. 

However, Brea Olinda still dominated them and, in the end, the Lady Brahmas lost 66-34. 

“One of many takeaways was to take care of the ball by reducing passing turnovers,” Malveaux said. “We shot 3/10 (30%) from the free throw line which we also wanted to improve upon.”

 Along with this tough loss, the team also fell short against Buena Park in the following game, 46-29.  

“We reduced our turnovers and shot 47 percent from the free-throw line which was notable improvements,” Malveaux said.

After a tough opening week, the team slowly began to recover from their defeats. They opened up their first of three basketball tournaments at the Wilson Ladycat Classic Tournament with a game against the Yorba Linda Mustangs.

According to Malveaux, the team limited their passing turnovers while shooting 10 for 15 from the free-throw line. The energy and confidence of the girls pushed them to their first victory of the season, winning 48-36. 

“We perfectly executed our full-court trapping defense which created double-digit turnovers in the first quarter,” Malveaux said.

Malveaux said the ultimate goal for the girls is to make a strong push during the Hacienda League finals so they can get back to the CIF Southern Section Playoffs.

 “Each game that we have played, win or lose, has shown us a little bit more about who we are as a team,” Malveaux said. “‘Trust the Process’ is my motto that I hope the Lady Brahmas will take to heart and understand we can only get better with time and perseverance.”