By Katie Mitchell
The Mustangs couldn’t outplay the Seahawks’ offense, causing them to lose 31-26.
The Mira Costa girls basketball team played against Redondo Union High School on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at Redondo Union. After a long game filled with aggressive offense and strong defense, the Mustangs fell to the Seahawks 31-26.
“We did a really good job staying aggressive and communicating throughout the game,” sophomore forward Hannah Gedion said. “Even though it wasn’t our preferred score, we fought hard and the Seahawks are overall a tough team.”
During the first quarter, it was a slow start for both teams. The Seahawks immediately found openings in Costa’s defense and were able to get ahead. Although the Mustangs did what they could to try and tie up the score, the Seahawks ended the first quarter 9-5.
“We brought a lot of energy to the game,” senior shooting guard Ella Erich said. “Normally, we have a rough start, but we brought the fire from the first second which was really beneficial in keeping the score close.”
The second quarter was kicked off with a clean free throw from senior Christine Garrison. The Mustangs took this momentum and pushed the Seahawks defense, leading them to score 7 consecutive points. Although they got closer to pulling ahead, the Mustangs just fell short in the second quarter with a score of 15-12.
“We did a really good job and held them up on defense,” senior shooting guard Skylar Herdman said. “We were able to do a great job in playing offense.”
The game began to pick up its pace during the third quarter. Within the first 2 minutes, the Mustangs took one of Redondo’s rebounds all the way down the court to their basket, getting them one point closer to catching up to the Seahawks. Later in the quarter, a three pointer was scored by senior Amanda Barba to tie up the game for the Mustangs. Unfortunately, the Seahawks fought back, scoring 5 points in a row and ending the quarter 25-20.
“We kept up the intensity of playing 110% but we were getting more stuck because Redondo’s defense was really good, so we couldn’t run the offense we wanted to,” sophomore point guard Cara Susilo said.
In the fourth quarter of the game, the Mustangs were not ready to slow down and give up. At first, they kept up their defense and didn’t give the Seahawks any room to score. As the quarter went on, the Seahawks found ways around their defense, leading them to score 6 points. The Mustangs retaliated and were able to push forward past the Seahawks offense and also scored 6 points, ending the game 31-26.
“This was a battle of defenses because neither team shot well,” Erich said. “We just hope at home to play at least the same level of defense and that our shots will fall.”
The Mustangs are scheduled to play their next game at MBMS against Peninsula High School on Friday, Jan. 24 at 6:00 PM. Their overall Bay League record is currently 3-2.
“I think if we keep working hard and playing as a team, we can come back from this loss and become better from it,” Gedion said.
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