JAGUARS REJOICE -- With the scoreboard showing the final score, Jaguar girls clebrate their victory. Joaquin Siles, CooperativeCooperative 21, Cambridge 20
Jaguars nip Knights by one point (once again)
The two teams had gone at each other all year long in nip-and-tuck fashion, and the playoff final was to be no different, but when the smoke cleared Friday in the Christian Learning gym the Cooperative girls varsity basketball team was posing with the championshìp trophy.
The female Jaguars defeated the Lady Knights 21-20, marking the third time that the Jaguars had defeated Cambridge this year -- once by two points, and twice by one point. The Knights had been bidding for their third straight League championship.
It was also a case of sweet revenge for the Jaguar girls, many of whom were on last year's team, which had lost to Cambridge in overtime in the finals, and lost twice during the regular season by two-point margins. This year the shoe was definitely on the other foot.
Though the margin was never large, Cooperative actually led virtually from the tap-off to the final buzzer. The three three-pointers fired in by team leader Cecelia Aponte were the key to the Jaguar victory.
The Jaguars were ahead 5-4 at the end of the first quarter, and 14-10 at the half. Cambridge caught up quickly in the second half, cutting the Jaguar margin to one at 16-15, and then taking the lead for one brief, shining moment at 17-16.
Two foul shots by Aponte put the Jaguars back on top, however, and they stayed there by one or two points for the rest of the game.
Cambridge can be said to have lost the game at the foul line. The Knights missed six foul shots in the first quarter alone, and made only three of ten during the rest of the game, including a pair of opportunities in the final minute that could have tied and/or won the game.
Cambridge's inability to cash in at the foul line meant that Cooperative paid no penalty for the hard-checking style it used to stop Cambridge's star forwards, Raquel Lopez and Maeiana Escaño, from driving the lanes and baseline, as they tried to do. Lopez, the league's leading scorer during the regular season, made only one field goal. Escaño did not score from the floor.
Cooperative also spread the fouls around evenly enough that they didn't get into individual or team foul problems.
Maira Lino, Cambridge's ace outside shooter tried to compensate, and tallied 11 points, including a thre-pointer of her own. Cambridge also made two nifty baskets on which multiple passes finally connected to a player loose under the basket, one at the end of the thirsd quarter, and the other at the beginning of the fourth, but they couldn't repeat the trick down the stretch..
Aponte had the hot hand this day, and finished with 15 points, including the Jaguars final field goal, which she scored on a fast break after stealing the ball at mid-court.
Sophia Sotelo had three points, Nicole Broersma two, and Ana Paula Perdo one.
Jaguars nip Knights by one point (once again)
The two teams had gone at each other all year long in nip-and-tuck fashion, and the playoff final was to be no different, but when the smoke cleared Friday in the Christian Learning gym the Cooperative girls varsity basketball team was posing with the championshìp trophy.
The female Jaguars defeated the Lady Knights 21-20, marking the third time that the Jaguars had defeated Cambridge this year -- once by two points, and twice by one point. The Knights had been bidding for their third straight League championship.
It was also a case of sweet revenge for the Jaguar girls, many of whom were on last year's team, which had lost to Cambridge in overtime in the finals, and lost twice during the regular season by two-point margins. This year the shoe was definitely on the other foot.
Though the margin was never large, Cooperative actually led virtually from the tap-off to the final buzzer. The three three-pointers fired in by team leader Cecelia Aponte were the key to the Jaguar victory.
The Jaguars were ahead 5-4 at the end of the first quarter, and 14-10 at the half. Cambridge caught up quickly in the second half, cutting the Jaguar margin to one at 16-15, and then taking the lead for one brief, shining moment at 17-16.
Two foul shots by Aponte put the Jaguars back on top, however, and they stayed there by one or two points for the rest of the game.
Cambridge can be said to have lost the game at the foul line. The Knights missed six foul shots in the first quarter alone, and made only three of ten during the rest of the game, including a pair of opportunities in the final minute that could have tied and/or won the game.
Cambridge's inability to cash in at the foul line meant that Cooperative paid no penalty for the hard-checking style it used to stop Cambridge's star forwards, Raquel Lopez and Maeiana Escaño, from driving the lanes and baseline, as they tried to do. Lopez, the league's leading scorer during the regular season, made only one field goal. Escaño did not score from the floor.
Cooperative also spread the fouls around evenly enough that they didn't get into individual or team foul problems.
Maira Lino, Cambridge's ace outside shooter tried to compensate, and tallied 11 points, including a thre-pointer of her own. Cambridge also made two nifty baskets on which multiple passes finally connected to a player loose under the basket, one at the end of the thirsd quarter, and the other at the beginning of the fourth, but they couldn't repeat the trick down the stretch..
Aponte had the hot hand this day, and finished with 15 points, including the Jaguars final field goal, which she scored on a fast break after stealing the ball at mid-court.
Sophia Sotelo had three points, Nicole Broersma two, and Ana Paula Perdo one.
2009 SCISL CHAMPIONS -- Cooperative girls with Coach Max Farfan
Joaquin Siles, Cooperative
