Varsity Girls Basketball won 51-19 against Milpitas High School on Jan. 31. Their victory marked their sixth win by over 25 points this season which improved their overall record to 12-8. The Matadors’ offense led the team, making 12 3-pointers throughout the game, and their defensive effort held Milpitas to its lowest score of the season.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore guard Rachel Bergendahl allowed MVHS to go on a 12-0 run, effectively putting the game out of reach for MHS. During the last second of the third quarter, senior shooting guard and captain Clara Fan shot a 3-pointer, pushing MVHS’ score up to 34-7. Junior post and forward Navya Parvathaneni anchored the defense with six blocks during the fourth quarter, preventing any chance of a comeback from MHS in the final 15 minutes of the game.
Sophomore and shooting guard Allie Rummelhoff believes the team’s comfortable lead allowed it to experiment and try new strategies without the pressure of a close game. She sees the game as a valuable team bonding experience and acknowledges that their win was critical for the team’s confidence in the future.“When you have a comfortable lead, you can experience different things,” Rummelhoff said.
“You can make more mistakes and you can try new things. If you’re usually a team player you can not be afraid and go in and shoot more. I think that really helped us, and I think it’ll carry over to games where we don’t have a buffer — we’ll be confident the whole time and keep going.”
Parvathaneni recognizes the team’s strong performance but, despite MVHS’s large margin of victory, believes she can improve her defensive positioning for future matches.
“Rachel was on fire today,” Parvathaneni said. “I think I could have played defense a little better. I was open a lot on offense, and I didn’t think of the opportunity to take a shot.”
