GVBB Win Big on Senior Night

The Cate girls varsity basketball team celebrated its seniors during Thursday’s game against Providence. Thank you to everyone who came out to support us. It was a joy to play in front of such a supportive crowd of parents, students, and faculty, and to showcase the strides we have made as a team this season.

Despite the emotions and nerves that naturally followed the senior-night ceremony, we settled in quickly after Providence scored first. Our defense set the tone and led to key offensive contributions, and our seniors shined early. Senior Emerson Evans delivered a dominant performance, finishing with a career-high 20 points. She was fierce on the boards and added numerous steals and three blocks. Senior Jasper Shelmerdine continues to be instrumental with her toughness on defense, collecting seven steals, scoring six important second-half points, and consistently setting up her teammates. Senior Maia Holmes was, as always, relentless on defense. We ask Maia to guard every position on the floor, confident in her ability to slow down the opposing team’s best players. Beyond her court vision, rebounding, and steals/deflections, so many of Maia’s contributions are the intangibles that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but they are essential to our success. I am grateful that our community has been able to witness and support the growth of these seniors, including their hard work on the court that led to our success last night.

We are led by our seniors, and they are supported by a mighty group of sophomores, a fierce junior, and a brave freshman who followed their lead. Sophomore Maree Hawkins finished with 11 points and five assists, pushing the tempo and igniting our fast break–an essential part of our identity. Fellow sophomore point guard Chelsea Newlove had a lights-out shooting night with nine points and was a force defensively, holding Providence’s top scorer scoreless from the floor through the first three quarters. Sophomore Sloan Harwell added four points, sophomore Rita Mitera contributed two, and sophomore Maeve Whelan added another two. We also received important contributions in leadership, toughness, and rebounding from junior Aleema Bowo, sophomore Violette Hogan, and freshman Alice Zhang.

Lastly, but certainly not least, our injured players Josie Song and Nina Bhatia kept the bench positive and energized, and manager Elsie Chamberlain was astute and on top of everything at the scorer’s table.

We now head into a tough weekend with a rematch against Thacher tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in Ojai. Thacher was our first game of the season, and we’re excited for the opportunity to compete against them again. If you’re in Ojai, come out and support this wonderful group of young women.