Girls basketball wins close game against El Segundo

On Wednesday, Jan. 26, Samo’s girls basketball won a close game against El Segundo High School, 39-33. According to coach Douglas Kim, he expected a close game due to their performance in the past years. “Their big player is very dominant; she’s skilled. They had some really good shooters on the outside,” Kim said.Many of the Samo girls also battled with illnesses and adjustments to their strategies had to be made last minute. One of their main players, Lily Aurbach (’19) who plays post, was down with the flu and could only manage to play a couple of minutes.Samo’s main strategy was to double up on one of the big players, the post, from El Segundo who was making the rebounds and shots. They also executed a new technique they had been practicing called the dribble handoff where instead of passing the ball they handed it to their teammate so that their opponents couldn’t keep track.“It’s really to create confusion and motion to get their big girl out,” Kim said. “It worked for a little but and they made adjustments so we had to readjust.”Eventually, their tactics forced the El Segundo coach to take their post out. Although they were leading 21-16 after the first half, El Segundo quickly caught up and brough the difference to merely two points. The majority of the third and fourth quarter was intense and at every shot people gasped. Samo girls were jumping for every rebound and clamping their hands on the ball.“We wanted to make sure we were really playing and running the court,” Kim said. During the last two minutes of the game, El Segundo’s coach was calling one timeout after another, hoping to motivate their girls to a win but Samo girls pulled through and won with a mere difference of six points. “We didn’t get nervous when [El Segundo] started catching up, which helped us take the lead,” point guard Carmen Donate (’18) said. “I think we need to work on breaking a hustle a little bit and we have to shoot the ball a little bit better--numbering the shots and making them efficient,” Kim said summing up their performance.