Every year during the summer the Avalon High School Girls Basketball team starts working at their craft to be competitive for the following year. They dedicate themselves to train three days a week at 6:30 a.m. from mid-June to late July. At the end of the summer session they challenge themselves by competing against other high schools on the mainland.
This year Avalon got even younger. With 13 girls signed up to play, six are incoming freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors, and one senior. With so many young players Coach Hart decided to split the team up into frosh/soph and varsity teams to play in competition. This way the incoming freshmen would get a true opportunity to see where they stack up against girls their age and level. A donation from “Bucks from Bobby” helped fund the team’s trip to play in the tournament. The teams played four games on July 20 in Van Nuys. Two varsity and two frosh/soph.
The first varsity game was a tough battle between Avalon and San Fernando. Avalon, being their first game, was out of sync and needed a three-pointer by Hannah Hoefs to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Avalon could not get anything to drop in overtime and lost the game by six. The frosh/soph did not fair too well either, being their first organized competition ever, they dropped the first game by 20 points. In the second games the varsity battled Van Nuys coming back from six down with about a minute left executed down the stretch for Vikki Soto to hit a three-pointer from an out of bounds play to send the game into overtime.
In overtime Avalon stayed focused and won the game by four points. The second Frosh/Soph game the young freshmen stopped worrying and just played fearless basketball. The young team led by Vanessa Rodriguez and Lizette Cervantes went on a tear and won by 15.
Overall the games showed the potential of this year’s upcoming team. Although they are young, they are showing toughness, a high basketball IQ, improved skill level, dedication and willingness to achieve their potential. “I believe this is going to be an exciting year for Avalon Lady Lancer Basketball. They are putting the work in and I believe it will show on the court and they will make a lot of people proud to be a Lancer,” Coach Hart said. Come watch a Lancer game this November and share in the excitement.
