Co-reported by Kalpana Gopalkrishnan, Pranav Iyer and Aditya Pimplaskar
The Matadors were shut out in the first quarter. Mills HS went on a 21-0 run as they took advantage of MVHS’s turnovers on offense. MHS’s shooters took advantage of the defense and shot threes from the weak links of the court.Perhaps it was the stress of finals week, but with a 58-32 final score, the Matadors look to find more energy in their practices and play in their next game. With senior Julie Chen injured, the Matadors started the game with a younger lineup. Sophomore Joyce Chen and freshman Neha Kolur put points on the board with solid free throw shooting and drives to the basket. Still, MVHS never scored enough to contend with MHS’s lead.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Kolur broke the scoring drought with a layup. From that point on, MVHS fell into a slower offensive rhythm that they maintained for the rest of the game. Although the younger MVHS team had enough technical skill to take on MHS, the sheer size difference between MHS’s bigger players became evident as they plowed to the basket and nailed threes. During the fourth quarter, the physicality got to Joyce Chen, who was pushed to the ground and was slow to get up.
Despite the size difference between the two teams, MVHS’s lack of intensity was apparent in their multiple turnovers and hesitation to take risks.
“When there are turnovers [we have to] take care of the ball more cause we gave them a lot of shots we could have prevented,” senior Kirthi Gomatam said. “Rather than them beating us we kind of beat ourselves.”
In the future, the team hopes to practice with more focus to reflect in more difficult games like the one they faced against MHS.
“They gave a good fight but the defense was weak,” Kolur’s father Nagaraja Kolur said. “If we do the rebounds well we can be a really good team to look after.”
MVHS will play Lincoln HS at home on Friday Dec. 19 at 2 PM.
