Lady Rams Basketball Finish Season Undefeated
Last updated 3/3/2018 at 1:26pm
The Borrego Springs Lady Rams basketball team gave it all they could, but their efforts weren’t enough to get past the Lady Lions of Liberty Charter.
The team fell 54 – 31, ending their playoff run just a bit short in the CIF San Diego Section Girl’s Basketball Championships Division 5.
“I could not be more proud of the 12 girls who were out there for the 3 – 4 months, working really hard,” head coach Justine Smiley said. “From where we started to where we’re at now, and to end in first place outright and have an undefeated season, there’s no words for it."
The team finished undefeated, 7 – 0 in the Manzanita Girl’s Basketball Standings with a 13 – 6 overall record.
“It’s like a coach’s dream to have an udnefeated season, it’s something you can only wish for. The girls worked really hard. They deserve it, and they earned it,” Smiley said.
Prior to the game, athletic director Tim White introduced the starting lineups for both teams, hyping up the full crowd. Playoff intensity was felt throughout the gym.
That intensity and adrenaline was brought in the first quarter, as both teams went back-and-forth, exchanging layups and jumpers on both ends of the court.
The Lady Rams began to unfold in the second quarter, as the Lady Lions jumped into a 16 – 8 lead.
Junior point guard Vanessa Rodarte stopped their run with a drive down the paint, and an off-balance layup, 16 – 10.
A free throw by senior shooting guard Karen Garcia and a layup by freshman point guard Marla Manzano, put the Lady Rams down by three, 16 – 13.
The Lady Rams scored one more time, as the Lady Lions continued to get their offensive rebounds and put the pressure on.
Borrego headed into halftime down, 22 – 15.
Sophomore small forward Delaney Barclay started the third quarter with a layup, which got the crowd on its feet. The Lady Lions answered back with back-to-back jumpers in the paint, 26 – 17.
The Lady Lions made use of every possession they had with the ball, and extended their lead by 11, 38 – 27.
The Lady Rams had one more quarter to give it all they got. They gave good pressure and strong defense to slow down the Lady Lions.
However, the team struggled to connect with the basket, and Liberty Charter took advantage of that by scoring on their end of the court.
With two minutes left in the quarter, senior center Nicole Del Bono pushed it to the limit under the basket for the Lady Rams first basket of the quarter.
Del Bono scored once more for the Lady Rams with 25 seconds left.
Even with the game a little out of reach, the Lady Rams didn’t stop pushing and fought every second.
It was definitely quite an emotional game as the seniors walked off the court one last time.
“They have been through the up’s and down’s. They know what it’s like to be on the opposite end of the type of season that we had,” Smiley said. “From only having three wins total in a season, to winning all of them, they’re the true leaders. They knew where we came form they know the hard work and dedication it takes to be winners and they showed by example what it was gonna take to our new players to be a winning team.”
It was a great season, and the Lady Rams hope to come back even stronger next year.