Girls basketball bounces back with big win over Beverly

Samo girls basketball beat Beverly Hills High School by a landslide on Friday, Jan. 22 with a final score of 61-26. While Beverly has been an intense rival for years, it seems that this year, the heat is fairly one-sided. Not only did Beverly give up enough baskets to guarantee a loss in the first half, but they seemed to be in very good spirits throughout the game whereas the Samo girls were notably more driven and serious.“We go out there and we try our hardest and we try to leave it all out on the court; the score is a result of that,” guard Tiffany Minney (’17) said. “When we play Beverly, it’s more of an emotional game but Culver is more of the competition.”There was certainly a more active crowd and a more energized opposing team when Samo played Culver City on Wednesday. At this game, the Beverly audience was significantly smaller and more subdued.“Beverly is a rival because they usually are tough competition and the school rivalry always makes the game hype especially high,” head coach Marisa Silvestri said. “The league's toughest competition has been Culver City for the past few years”.After the first half, Samo was leading 33-16 and could afford to slow down. The girls began passing more and taking their time. They did not allow the other team to catch up and the score gap increased constantly—but they had the luxury of being able to work on plays against a real team and treated the remainder of the game almost like a practice.“We had many different facets of our game that needed to be worked so we focused on those during this game,” Silvestri said. “We also adjusted by playing some girls together to see how they worked alongside one another for the future. We always like to get playing time for those girls who may not  get time otherwise.”The game boosted the morale of the Samo girls after a difficult loss last Wednesday. The Vikings will face El Segundo next on Jan. 27 and hopefully their momentum will continue.“We can do some great things when we play as a team,” Silvestri said.  “Our group of girls really like each other and it makes the game really fun when they work together like they did in this game.”