The last league and home game of the season, the Arcadia High School (AHS) Girls Varsity Basketball team went head-to-head against Crescenta Valley High School (CVHS) on Feb. 3, in the North Gym. Despite a tough game, the score ended in 54-70, a loss for AHS.
The first quarter of the game started off fast-paced with AHS making the first few points through free throws. The score stayed between 1 to 2 point difference. Arcadia had tight defense and prevented CVHS from scoring any points for some time. With an impressive three-pointer from junior Maddie Tran, AHS stepped ahead of CVHS, breaking past the close score.
The game continued with several good attempts for shots by both teams, but the score stayed stubborn. Crescenta Valley finally scored again, leaving the score at 8-11. With less than a minute left, both teams managed to squeeze in some points. The final score at the end of the first quarter was 11-15.
The second quarter started, but Arcadia was consistently 3 points behind. Despite this, they moved to lessen the gap with another astounding three-pointer. Crescenta Valley widened the gap with a 6-point lead despite a lot of strong and accurate passes and steals made by AHS. Crescenta Valley held an 11-point gap between them and Arcadia, and the second quarter ended quickly with a final score of 24-37.
“You know, we have to keep our defensive principles. When we have good team defense, we get good results, so…we have to keep pushing for that,” said Coach Desiree Almaraz.
The third quarter started off with an early timeout and then resumed with the score of 24-40. Although Crescenta Valley was nearly 20 points ahead of Arcadia, AHS still persisted and closed the gap to a 13-point difference. The scores moved fast quickly becoming a 15-point gap, yet AHS still held fast, not giving up. Crescenta Valley quickly pulled ahead again to another 20-point lead, using their offense to their advantage while Arcadia tightened their defense. The third quarter ended in a score of 38-55.
For offense, “Reading their eyes, reading where they’re going to put the ball, just trying to anticipate the pass or the shot, is really the key we need to emphasize on,” said freshman Nikki Tran.
The fourth quarter started with a 13-point lead from CVHS but then widened again to a 20-point gap. AHS capitalized on fouls made by Crescenta Valley and used tricky underhand passes in an attempt to catch up. With a great steal made by junior Hailey Lam, AHS made more moves to score baskets, attempting to gain on CVHS. Multiple fouls were called for both teams, leaving players spread out.AHS pushed through and left the score at a 14-point difference before yet another timeout was called.
With hard work and persistence, AHS was catching up. However, in the end, the score ended 54-70.
The game with CVHS was hard fought with Arcadia keeping up the pressure and work despite the tough opponent.
