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Delivering a commanding 32-7 victory over the Ceiba College Preparatory Academy Spartans on Jan. 15, the Anzar High girls basketball team boosted its confidence and improved its Pacific Coast Athletic League record to 3-2 in league games.
The team has a 6-7 record overall
This marks their second true on-court league win of the season, following a dominant 63-26 score against York High School. The Hawks have also faced setbacks, including losses to Oakwood and Santa Catalina, as well as a victory awarded by default against Monterey Bay Academy.
It was particularly satisfying to Anzar coach Gilbert Grio, who is rebuilding the team after losing key players to graduation last year. With a mere eight girls on the team this year and one senior, he said the victory was particularly sweet.
“Well,” Grio said, “that was nice. It started off slow, but our girls have a little more experience in their team. And towards the end, I was able to play a lot of the freshmen who needed some experience in game time.”
The loss of the players from last year’s team was painful as came in second in the league. But Grio said, as evidenced by the game, that his young team is “dedicated and learning fast.”
The game started with an immediate lead in the first quarter, with the team taking an 11-0 lead. Five of those points were free throws due to fouls, particularly against Esme Gonzales, the team’s best shooter, and Grace Grio, the point guard and coach’s daughter, something Grio said he has come to expect.
“Those two girls are fast,” he said, “and they just have a knack for picking up fouls. I’ve seen that in a lot of our games, just because they’re running so fast towards the basket.”
The pace slowed a bit in the second quarter, with the Hawks giving up two points and scoring only four, including another Ceiba foul against Gonzales, and a three-pointer by Grio.
In the third quarter, Gonzales, Breanna, Rory Kayne, and Tatiana Taylor each contributed two points while the team’s defense held the Spartans scoreless.
Breanna and Kayne finished with two points each, and Kaiya Henson added two baskets and three free throws.
“The high point for me,” Grace Grio said, “was probably after halftime when everybody that usually doesn’t play as much, they went in and they got to make a lot of layups and shots.”
For Gonzales, who had played against Spartans before, the win was not much of a surprise, though she criticized her own performance.
“They are at a lower level than we are,” she said. “We usually beat them by a lot of points. But my shots weren’t going in, and my layups were not good either. But my teammates, they were doing great.”
Though the team has only two victories on the court, matched by two defeats, and will be meeting the two teams they lost to again in a few weeks, Coach Grio remains optimistic about how the rest of the season will play out.
“We’ve made the playoffs four years in a row,” he said, “and I expect the same this year. The younger girls got a lot of playing time today, and some scored their first points of the season. They are learning, but their chances are good.”
The Team:
1 – Anahi Soto – Sophomore
3 – Tatiana Taylor – Sophomore
4 – Breanna Grio – Freshman
5 – Samantha Leon – Freshman
11 – Grace Grio – Sophomore
13 – Esme Gonzales – Senior
22 – Rory Kayne – Sophomore
24 – Kaiya Henson – Freshman
Upcoming games:
1/21 – Notre Dame (away game) 4 p.m.
1/27 – Oakwood (home game) 5 p.m.
1/29 – York (away game) 5:30 p.m.
2/02 – Santa Catalina (away game) 5:30 p.m.
2/06 – Ceiba College Preparatory Academy (home game) 5:30 p.m.
2/10 – Notre Dame (home game) 5:30 p.m.
2/17 – Monterey Bay Academy (home game) 5:30 p.m.
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