Making a layup Charlie King ’27 soars up to the rim to lay it in. He dodged a block after running across the court to make the basket, and gave the Warriors a brief lead.
Standing on the free throw line, Marshall Sjariffudin ’27 prepares to shoot the ball for an extra point. After a foul was called on the other team, Westwood received the chance to score an extra point.
Attempting a free throw, Max Romero ’27 stands, follows through on the shot. Fouls being made throughout the night helped keep the score close.
Rising into the air, Joseph Bibbo ’27 shoots the ball. Bibbo dodged a block to create space to shoot the ball, and swished the ball into the net.
Ready to shoot, Liam Beekman ’27 launches from the ground. After Beekman rushed down the court, closely followed, he attempted a shot, however the shot clanged against the rim and fell out.
On Friday, Nov. 10, the Freshman Orange basketball team took on the Johnson Jaguars in their debut game of the season, giving up a lead, and losing to the Jags 49-43.
As the clock began to tick, , the Warriors got out to a fast start, scoring 3 points within the first thirty seconds. During the first period, Charlie King captured the lead, knocking down two buckets in only one minute. Max Romero ‘27 put up three shots of his own in the first period, also helping guide the Warriors to their early lead, finishing out the period up 12-6.
“I felt very nervous doing my free throws because everyone had their eyes on me,” Romero said.“I know I played the best I could and was as confident as possible to get that goal.”
During the second quarter, the Warriors still created offensive success, shooting just as well as the first period. However, things started getting intense as there were more turnovers created by both teams, and an injury from the other team. Players from both sides started to up their game,realizing the toughness of both sides, with the score being within two or three points the entire quarter. Westwood outpaced the Jaguars down the stretch however, finalizing the score of the second quarter 30-27.
“We played as hard as we could,” King said. “It was very annoying having them always super close to us since we wanted to be in the lead, but at the end of the day we played through.”
The Warriors had a rocky start and finish to the period, struggling all throughout as the Jaguars kept scoring despite the Warriors best defensive efforts. With just 1:18 left in the third period, Liam Beekman ’27 scored the first basket of the quarter for the Warriors, only being able to score 32 points through three quarters.
“It was really stressful having them come over us like that,” Marshall Sjariffudin ‘27 said. “We did the best we could to keep them down. The main thing I think we need to work on is picking up the pace when the other team starts to come up too.”
Starting the fourth period, the crowd was already holding its breath. After some back and forth, the Warriors fell behind the Jaguars towards the end of the game 38-39. Throughout the last five minutes of the game both teams were frantic to outscore the other team, with the Warriors looking to open their season with a win. However, a late surge from the Jaguars lifted Johnson to a win 49-43.
“We wanted to win and we played really hard in the second half,” Sjariffudin said. “I just tried to forget about the stress and keep trying harder. It’s a team sport and all of us have to work together, and I know in the next game we will do better.”
They will play against Cedar Park High School, Tuesday, Nov. 14.
![Multiple Westwood Girls block a Vista Ridge player. Westwoods defense slacked off the entire game, but at certain points it improved. Im proud of us for playing hard and keep[ing] going even when times get rough, Caroline Doughtery 25 said.](https://westwoodhorizon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/24-1-30_girlsvarsitybasketball-ashforda-2-1200x800.jpg)
