LJ g BB 54, Lincoln 11

Jenna Harmeyer (left), a sprinter

during the track season for La Jolla,

shows some of her spring against Lincoln
on a jump pass to the middle.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

 

 

La Jolla played everyone, early and often, as the Viking cagers frolicked on Lincoln's home court to the tune of a 54-11 blowout in a Western League contest Fri. evening, Jan. 10.

 

The girls played the prelude to the boys game in a Friday night doubleheader. The crowd was limited to two or three families at the opening tip. But the Vikings quickly revved things up, going up 24-2 early in the contest.

 

Sierra Westhem, daughter of coach Dave Westhem, scored 23 points in limited minutes. Center Madeleine Gates was a virtual feed machine at one point, taking pass after pass from teammates to score down low. She finished with 13 points.

 

Kate Miller, a freshman, was active. Paulina Cardenas got a lot of playing time in the blowout. Erica Wang, who also plays softball, ditto.

 

Satori Roberson, in a good muscular effort, pulled down 11 rebounds. Satori, a sophomore who is also a triple jumper in track, played alongside her younger sister for much of the game. The elder Roberson has a lot of length at 6-foot-1. She just has to get used to mixing it up under the boards, which takes experience. This is a normal process for a basketball player. What did Malcolm Gladwell say? A person has to practice 10,000 hours to become great at what they do? How about 1,000 hours just to start to get pretty good? Pistol Pete Maravich dribbled the ball out the window of the car while his dad drove. He dribbled a ball everywhere he went, without looking down. How else do you get good?
 

The Vikings were looking forward to a big showdown with Bishop's the following afternoon. Bishop's is ranked near the top of county teams after a dominating December of non-league victories. The game between the crosstown rivals was scheduled for Bishop's' gym. It was expected to be a good test for the Vikings, who are fairly new to the middle and higher echelon of teams in San Diego CIF. They have played well in games against tough foes in tournament games.

 

Sophie Sowers, La Jolla's three-point specialist, has sacrificed some of her scoring opportunities to help out in ball-handling duties since point guard Helen Lee went down with an injury at the end of the fall volleyball season. Sowers ran the second unit part of the time against Lincoln, to provide an experienced ball-handler and steadying influence.

Lee is out for the season. She will come back next year as a junior.

Amanda Polcyn has moved into Lee's former point guard position. Polcyn has matured a lot in the role since the start of the season, and especially in her ball-handling and court sense since last season.


Copyright 2014 Ed Piper