Closing off the winter season, girls varsity basketball and soccer qualified for CIFs. Girls soccer advanced up to the first round, while girls basketball advanced up to the quarterfinals.
Girls soccer hosted their CIF playoffs at home on Feb. 12, defeating Lawndale High School with a score of 5-2 despite facing rough and rainy conditions.
“We’ve definitely practiced a lot this season, and we’ve worked a lot on shooting and passing. We’ve also prepared by getting in the right headspace by knowing that we can win,” sophomore soccer co-captain Shay Tiettmeyer said.
Girls soccer moved on to the first round of CIFs on Feb. 14, traveling two hours to play Desert Springs High School. Unfortunately, their CIF run ended in a 0-4 loss, but the team’s morale continued on.
“The team was really good and [the conditions] were also super windy,” sophomore co-captain Maya Diaz said. “Any time we just tried to do something … [the ball] would just kind of fly everywhere so it was just a hard game overall.”
While soccer faced a tough final game, the team reflected on significant improvements made over the course of the season. “I think we’ve established a lot of team bonding, and we’ve had a lot of great experiences, winning in hard situations like coming out of being in a deficit,” Tiettmeyer said.
Girls basketball started their CIF run on Feb. 13, facing off against Faith Baptist High School for playoffs and winning the exciting game with a final score of 46-43; special highlights included senior co-captain Leah Lee scoring eight points and senior co-captain Ashley Ventura scoring six points against the Contenders.
“We were ahead [initially], then we were down, but then we kept our focus and we ended up winning the game. I think the highlight was after the game, when we were all really excited and happy,” Ventura said.
Despite a setback due to an unexpected leak in the Oxford gym, basketball continued their winning streak in the first round of CIFs against Nogales High School, winning 58-43. Sophomore Chloe Chen led the Patriots to victory, scoring 24 points against the Nobles and gaining an important lead for Oxford.
The team entered the quarterfinals against Kennedy on Feb. 19, playing in the gym at Oxford in front of a packed audience. After an extremely close and exciting game, the Patriots fell short by one point to the Irish, losing with a final score of 48-49.
In spite of the close loss, girls basketball’s teamwork and endurance has been reflected in their overall performance for the whole season, with the team earning a winning streak for their pre-season and beginning of season.
“Something that really made my season worth playing for was my teammates. I love my team so much and we all care so much about each other and the sport. We put in so much work off-season to get to where we are,” sophomore basketball player Zoey Hess said.
Overall, both soccer and basketball closed off the Winter season with successful CIF runs, demonstrating their teamwork and resilience throughout their games.
