The girls basketball team is reaping the fruits of its labor.
Coming off a strong 8-3 preseason run, the Lady Eagles have continued their hot streak by starting off league 7-0 and extending their win streak to 13 games, one of the program’s longest win streaks in decades. Los Altos hasn’t lost a game since December 10 of last year.
What’s behind this success? One aspect of the team’s game is a roaring back-half—Los Altos has outscored each of its last 13 opponents in the second half of the game.
“In league, we’ve seemed to develop a pattern of coming back from being behind,” sophomore Katie Munro said. “We never stopped fighting and our competitive spirits allowed us to turn the game around.”
League success has also largely been contingent on intense pre-season conditioning and momentum from the
team’s pre-season run. Los Altos beat King’s Academy in the King’s Academy tournament, a “definite high point,” according to junior Rebecca Andrews.
Learning to play with one another and how to handle many different types of opponents ultimately culminated in a beneficial pre-season.
“I think our pre-season was a great time for us to work out some kinks and also gave us the opportunity to see many different types of teams,” co-captain senior Meghan McDermott said. “Against the lesser teams, I think we could have played a little tougher, but we definitely rose to the occasion against our tougher opponents.”
However, as good as the team is playing, players have cited several areas of improvement. Though Los Altos has come back strong in the back-halves of games, its first two quarters have been lacking.
“The biggest thing we need to work on is coming out hard in the first half,” sophomore Meg Enthoven said. “Each game we’ve had to battle back in the second half after being down by a lot, and it would be great to see our team come out strong right as the game begins.”
Playing more cohesively instead of relying solely on one or two players has been another area of focus.
One player that the team has been reliant on is Meghan, who has been the only player to average double-digit points this season (13.3) and carried Los Altos to a 45-33 victory over Cupertino by contributing 13 points and sealed the team’s win with two free throws in a tough game against Santa Clara.
“Meghan has been playing absolutely amazing[ly],” Rebecca said. “She has been the only person consistently putting points on the board and she has really helped lead us to victory. I really can’t overestimate the impact she has made on the team.”
After Meghan in shooting are Katie and Meg, averaging 8.1 and 7.5 points per game, respectively.
Leading the team in defense is co-captain senior Kelly Hamamoto, who has led the team in steals, averaging 4.4 per game.
With this mix of strong offensive and defensive players, along with the ability to deliver a blistering second half, the team looks to take league and beyond.
“I think we have a really good shot at winning league again this year,” Meghan said. “There isn’t one team dominating league this year, so the title is up for grabs. If we continue to play up to our potential, I think we can beat any team. We have to play our game as a team though in order to beat some of these tougher opponents.”
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