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Middle School "A" Girls Have A Fantastic Season

17- 2 winning season

The Round Valley Middle School Colts Girls A basketball team has just ended a memorable season. The team finished it season with an amazing 17 wins with only 2 losses. What makes this even more remarkable is that the 2 losses came against 1 opponent. The colts lost twice to a strong Fort Bragg team, with the last game decided by only 1 point!

Obviously, the Lady Colts had an abundance of skill and talent. This team consisted of all 8th graders and they are;

Tesia Want (G/F) Elacia Redhawk (G) Ashantey Case (G)
Shanice Britton (F/C) Noelia Davila (C) Bailey Bienvenu (G/F)
Jeannie Bettega (F/C) Kelsey McCoy (C/F) Alyssa Pattereau (F) Corrianna Elliot (G)

The Lady Colts participated in 4 tournaments this season, taking 1st place in 3 of those 4. Our first tournament championship, and probably the most impressive, was taking 1st place in the 50th Annual Crescent City Jaycees Tournament. Through great teamwork and an unmatched tenacity on defense, the Lady Colts won their first 2 games against Willows and Arcata. Although both games were competitive, the Colts were able to get the victory. The championship game came against the Hoopa Lady Warriors. Although we jumped out to an early lead, the Lady Warriors fought back to make the game close until the end. But with strong rebounding and inside scoring, the Colts were able to get the victory and were crowned the champions. Along with a championship banner, the Colts were also rewarded with two All-Stars and the MVP awards. Coaches from the other teams in the tournament chose Elacia and Bailey as All-stars for their great defense and scoring. Shanice was unanimously voted for as the MVP of the tournament as she dominated by her rebounding, defense and scoring.

The next Tournament was our very own, as we hosted an AAU team along with our own Colts B- teams. All the teams showed great determination and outstanding sportsmanship. But as before, the Lady Colts showed fantastic teamwork and played great defense as we won all 3 of our games to being the undefeated Jamboree Champions. Shanice and Noelia were selected as All-Stars for their inside play, rebounding and scoring. The MVP award was given to Elacia as she was the tournament scoring leader and defensive stopper for opposing teams.

We traveled to Anderson Valley for our 3rd tournament of the season. The tournament had a total of 6 teams, but teams were divided into 2 divisions. The winner of each division would play each other as would the 2nd and 3rd place teams. Our first game came against the Point Arena Pirates. The game was a very competitive, but the Lady Colts prevailed with strong defense, rebounding, and good execution on offense. The second game we played the Fort Bragg Cubs, the only team we have lost to earlier in the season. This game was really physical and with our girls getting the short end of an unbalanced foul count, we lost our starting center, Noelia, in the 3rd quarter due to fouls. Shanice, our leading scorer, also had 4 fouls throughout the whole 4th quarter, which limited her aggressiveness. Add to this an injury to our starting point guard and playmaker, Elacia, we lost by 1 point in a nail biter in the end. This game was tough to lose, but the Colts had to bounce back and beat the Laytonville Lady Warriors in our 3rd and last game. This also was a physical game as the Warriors played with great passion making this game a lot closer than a previous one against the Lady Warriors. Without Elacia, who did not play in the game, the Colts dug deep and finally pulled out the victory.

The last tournament we played was at Point Arena where we were returning as the champions from last year. Our first game came against Laytonville and with the last game still in our minds, our girls came out determined and with an unmatched aggressiveness to defeat the Lady Warriors convincingly. Our second game was against the home team, Point Arena. This game was played well by both teams, but in the end, the Colts aggressiveness and teamwork prevailed. Our last game was against the Mendocino Cardinals, a team we never played before, and both teams were yet to be beaten in this tournament. Both teams came out slow on offense and it became a defensive battle as scoring for both teams became difficult. Although Noelia, Kelsey, Shanice, Jeannie, and Alyssa were dominating the boards and getting a lot of second shots, the ball was not going in for us. In the second half, our offense finally got going as guards Tesia and Ashantey started to drive towards the basket more often, creating good shots for themselves or passing to a teammate for easy scores. The final score favored us as we took 1st place in our 3rd tournament of the season.

Most of the teams we faced this season were unable to match our combined speed, strength, and size. Also, outstanding teamwork for all of the players was incredible to watch, and as a coach, it was very rewarding to be able to see them play. Our offense usually came from our leading scorers, Shanice Britton, Elacia Redhawk, Noelia Davila, and Bailey Bienvenu. Shanice and Noelia got most of their points from great offensive rebounding. Lacy and Bailey were great shooters and aggressive towards the hoop. But the other players could easily score too. Tesia Want, probably our most unselfish player, could have and should have shot more often. Kelsey McCoy probably had the best outside shot on the team. Alyssa Pattereau also should have shot more but was more willing to pass to her teammates. In all of our games, significant shots by Ashantey Case, Jeannie Bettega or Corrianna Elliott were made that either kept our momentum or changed it for us.

However, our greatest advantage was our aggressiveness, and this showed in our defense and rebounding. The defense, led by our defensive stoppers Elacia and Tesia along with strong team defense was too tough for other teams to consistently score. The Colts also dominated the boards, as Shanice and Noelia along with Kelsey, Alyssa, Jeannie and Bailey were too strong and aggressive for the other teams. A lot of easy scores came from our offensive rebounds.

This season surely was remarkable and will always be remembered. Hopefully our girls will continue to strive for excellence and bring a couple of more High School Championships in the future.