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By Rosa Shields
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Feb. 11, 2009 |
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“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.”
This workout chant, spoken by All-star NBA player Tim Duncan, represents the sentiment of the girls’ varsity basketball team as they prepare for the start of a competitive season. The girls hope to maintain their six-year legacy of winning the city title. Senior captain Eryn Kimura believes this tradition has contributed to additional expectations the team. “I don’t just want to do this for me, I want to do this for us,” Kimura said. “It’s hard to understand how badly we want this. Everyone expects us to be phenomenal, to keep up with last year’s legacy — it’s a lot of pressure.”
Although the desire to keep up the record can feel like an added burden Kimura believes the team is flourishing. “We’re a fun team, but we’re starting to understand what’s important,” she said. “We’re happy to be back, but we all share the common goal of wanting to win and keep the legacy going.”
One key player who will contribute to that goal this season is junior starting point guard Kristina Lum. “She’s the most consistent player on our team,” Kimura said. Lum is one of many players attempting to make up for the loss of three crucial starting seniors last year — guards Heather Chow and Sabrina Lum and forward Anna Bukarova.
Bukarova consistently averaged 12 points a game last season, and the team is feeling the loss of her offensive presence. “Those 12 points we lost because of Anna are huge, but we're gonna be able to pick it up with our defense,” Kimura said. “Defense is how we win.”
One way the team will also succeed this year is through the addition of talented players from junior varsity. According to Kimura, junior post Cicely Barker brings valuable skills to the team. “She’s a very, very strong post,” Kimura said. “She’s new to the team, so her skills aren’t completely honed yet, but she’s improving and really helping the team overall.”
Lum agrees with Kimura’s opinion. “Barker and junior forward Nicole Lee are new posts that are really going to contribute to the team’s success this season,” Lum said.
These extremely talented players have already contributed to early success. On Nov. 21 and on [find date] the team dominated Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and on Nov. 24 triumphed in another scrimmage over Oceana. Although these wins have increased the girls’ confidence, their first true challenge of the season was the Burlington Tournament at Burlingame High School on Dec. 3 and 4.
Junior Rachel Baskin believes the tournament was an indicator of how the team will perform for the rest of the season. “The teams in the tournament are more skilled than the teams in our league, so it shows us how we’ll match up with other schools,” Baskin said. “For example Lincoln, one of our main competitors, beat one of the teams on the tournament really badly, so it’s important for us to see how we do against them.”
Fortunately, the team has players with strong leadership skills as they begin the tournament. “The seniors are stepping up the leadership by pushing the new players and being good motivators,” Lum said.
The Cardinals will play their next pre-season game tomorrow against Menlo-Atherton at 1:30 p.m.
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