Girls Varsity Basketball vs La Reina
January 22, 2020
Cate: 14- 15- 16- 20 = 65
La Reina: 9- 16- 4- 5 = 34
The Cate girls varsity basketball team faced a dynamic La Reina team on Tuesday night to close out the first round of Frontier League play. Both teams came out shooting well and playing aggressive, physical defense. In the initial quarter, the Rams were led offensively by the forceful post play of junior Deborah Brittain, who had 6 of her 12 points in the opening minutes. Senior Piper Brooks, who had been out of our last two games due to illness, made an electrifying return with tenacious defense and excellent court management. Led by Brooks and Brittain, Cate was up 14-9 after the first quarter.
La Reina went on an offensive tear in the second quarter with incredible outside shooting from multiple players. The Rams responded with brilliant outside shooting from sophomore Meena Baher, who made three 3’s in the quarter. Another bright spot was the rebounding and offensive play of sophomore Imani Oseso, who contributed two, three-point plays in the quarter. Despite the combined offense of the team’s two sophomores, La Reina outscored Cate 16-15 in the quarter bringing the halftime score to 29-25 in favor of the Rams.
The second half proved to be a tale of two halves with the Rams coming out in the third quarter with some of their toughest defense to date and outstanding offensive play from senior Maya Blattberg. We opened the quarter with critical steals and deflections from junior Lily Zanze, Brooks, Baher, and senior Jess Yang. The team capitalized on this with strong finishes at the basket. In the quarter, Cate held La Reina to only four points. Building on the momentum of the third quarter, the Rams dominated the fourth quarter. Zanze found her rhythm inside and outside the paint with a thrilling 12 points in less than 6 minutes. Likewise, Baher continued to hit outside shots, while Oseso, Brittain, and Brooks finished the night with stellar defense and consistent offensive contributions. Cate held La Reina to only 5 points in the fourth quarter–nine total in the second half–in large part to a swarming 2-3 zone led by seniors Maya Fenelon and Jess Yang, as well as freshmen Mary Foster and Talia Tom. At the conclusion of the game, the Rams led 65-34.
There were many stellar moments during tonight’s win. Before the game, the coaches challenged the team to limit La Reina’s rebounding and second-chance shots and the team rose to the occasion. In my three years of coaching this team, I have never seen the Rams collectively work so hard to secure so many rebounds. Forwards, point guards and centers were determined to grab rebounds no matter the cost with many sacrificing their bodies to secure rebounds. We also once again proved that we are a second-half team. While this can be fun to watch, it does make for a very nerve-wracking first half due to the slow start.
We are currently 4-0 in league and 7-2 overall. We face a tough and gritty Bishop Diego team next Tuesday in Santa Barbara at 7:00pm. The last time we played them they had a very large and vocal crowd in our gym, so if you can travel to Bishop Diego next Tuesday (1/28), we would greatly appreciate it!