Rams Roar in First Quarter, but Foothill Prevails

January 4, 2024

Rams Roar in First Quarter, but Foothill Prevails: A Tale of Turnovers

Sophia Ospina ’25

On Monday, December 4th, the Rams opened league play with a solid first quarter against Foothill. Our half-court press defense kept the Dragons to just 7 points while the Rams got balanced scoring from their guards to take a 10-7 lead after the first 8 minutes.

Foothill turned things around in the second quarter when they initiated a full-court press that led to turnovers and fatigue for the Rams. Despite breaking the press with key dribbling from Ada Hansen ’24, Sam Jimenez ’25 and Sophia Ospina ’25, and essential screens from Sanai Edwards ’25, the press wore the Rams down and took us out of our offense. This initiated an 8-point turnaround going into halftime, with the Dragons up 18-13.

Sam Jimenez ’25

Unfortunately, turnovers were the story of the third quarter for the Rams. While our defense kept Foothill to scoring just 3 points in 8 minutes, turnovers and what felt like a lid on the rim extended Foothill’s lead to 10 at the end of the third quarter.

Despite the frustrating experience of the third, I am proud of our resilience in the final 8 minutes. We got critical buckets from Edwards and Hansen and good free-throw shooting from Jimenez. More significantly, we continued to hold Foothill to single digits through our half-court trap and extended 2-3. Besides two lucky three-point shots at the end of the shot clock, the Rams held the Dragons to just free throws in the quarter. The final score was 31-18.