The Varsity Girls Basketball team competed in their first CIF game in four years at Redwood and lost with a final score of 33-68.
Varsity played against Orcutt on Tuesday, February 5th, the same day as Senior night for Girls Basketball. The 2018-2019 season had four seniors graduating: Breanna Florentino (captain), Anya Mammen (captain), Vanessa Michel, and Emme Haas. All graduates got a basket with gifts inside. Until hearing that they would be moving on into CIF, the team assumed that this would be their last game.
Morro Bay High School Girls Basketball made it to CIF playoffs with a record of 1-11. Throughout their league, MBHS only beat Atascadero High School. Varsity Girls participated in the Napa Tournament, earning second place after losing the championship game. In league competitions MBHS varsity girls didn’t have the same luck as they did at Napa. Even though the girls only won one game, Florentino believed that the people who created the bracket saw potential in them. The last time that girls basketball attended CIF was fours years ago.
There are multiple teams going to the playoffs that have faced MBHS on the basketball court. These teams are; Arvin, Mission Prep, Nipomo, Orcutt Academy, Pioneer Valley, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, and Strathmore High School. Three of these teams were played twice and MBHS could not beat them.
The head coach, Tyler Fechner, made the decision to move up four JV players to the Varsity team. These players consist of two freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior: Hannah Quimby (9), Kali Gammie (9), Francesca Andrews (10), and Cadence Guy (11).
Florentino, one of the team captains responded to the question, how does it feel to be part of the CIF Playoffs on your last year playing for Morro Bay High School. She responded, “I felt very honored when we were chosen to be apart of the playoffs. Even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted after every game, we always worked hard in practice and it finally paid off.” Florentino said, “Throughout the season I tried to lead by example. I’m not the one to boss people around. I really wanted to create a bond between the team that were missing in my past years.”
The first game was Tuesday, and it was hosted in Redwood. Within the first quarter Morro Bay was down by four points. The reason they lost the game was, “After the first quarter, we started to play messy which created many turnovers and lost us the game.” Even though they lost there was still improvements made. For example, “We improved on getting the ball down the floor quicker for a fast break.” “The team we played was good but not amazing.” Unfortunately, the varsity team lost in the first round, with the final score being 33-68.
