Girls’ Basketball: overcoming its shortcomings

By FIONA MORIARTY-MCLAUGHLINAt first glance, Samo’s girls’ basketball team may seem undersized with its tallest player at 5-foot-7; however, basketball is a game of matchups and no matter what shape and size you are, it all comes down to skill."I think [our team] matches up well with most teams in our league," point guard Rewina Tesfu (’14) said. "Both Beverly and Inglewood have six footers, but they’re young. Our intensity and experience makes us a very competitive team in league with tough games against Inglewood, Beverly Hills and possibly Culver City."For a team that averages 30 points a game, there must be a strong emphasis on defense and pressure, according to shooting guard Nicole Rosenbach (’14)."Some of the other teams have height and a lot of natural skill, but they don’t necessarily know how to utilize it," Rosenbach said. "The team works on how to defeat other teams by using its best skills. The key is to make the other team as uncomfortable as possible."Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t matter how tall you are to be successful in the game. However, if you have two people guarding you it’s much harder to play. This is why the term "help-side" was invented. If one player was to get beat, someone should be there to help and back them up — the teams that play in sync tend to be the winners."When we know there is a tall player on the other team who scores most of the points, we work on shutting her down," Rosenbach said. "When a team is fast we work on pressuring them so they slow down. All of the aspects of our game force other teams to adjust and move away from their strengths."As the team progresses through league it will continue to institute and execute a game plan to lead to a successful season.The team is now half way through league and although the season started off rough, the team hopes to turn its season around as it progresses.