The curtain opens Thursday on what is probably the most question mark-filled varsity basketball season in recent memory.
Christian Learning’s boys team will ride a three-year old winning streak into the season, but without most of the stars who made the Eagles’ last several teams legends in their own time.
On the girls side, the Cooperative girls, whose winning streak is almost as long as the Christian Learning boys’, look like the favorites, but rumors swirl that the school has been hit by a virulent attack of early onset “senioritis” cast doubt on this prognosis.
Boys Basketball
First let’s look at the boys varsity competition, which seems the more problematic.
Christian Learning is looking to continue their long winning streak this year despite the loss of many key players. Jesse Hallock, Caleb Ropp, Conroy Janzen, Richard Ling, and Sung Jae Jang all graduated in 2011, leaving behind a less-experienced group of players. However, some Eagle standouts will remain from last year, including big center Andre Larsen as well as the sharpshooting sophomores Cesar Flores and Haziel Martinez. Along side these returning players, senior Trevor Reed, junior José Aldana, and freshman Josiah Caniviri will be making their varsity basketball debuts. The Eagle bench may appear to be sparser than normal, but one has to keep in mind the old adage that the Eagles have never been short of good basketball players, and the school has always been a title contender in this sport.
Some smart money is going to be on the young Cambridge
But the Knights have been busy since that embarrassing “El Foldo” in the playoffs. They won the city-wide 15-and-under championship, and, more recently, the 16-and-under interclub championships. Only one key player from last year – Fabricio Subirana – was lost to graduation, but that was a big loss in several ways. Subirana used his size and experience to control the backboards in many games, and his absence during much of the playoffs clearly affected the outcomes.
The task of replacing Subirana’s rebounding prowess will fall to newcomer Luis Mercado, who has Subuirana’s height , if not his bulk, and may be a better shooter. Still, Mercado is only a 9th grader, young to be carrying such a heavy load.
However, he will be supported by a bunch of slick ball-handlers and accurate shooters including Gabriel Alonso, Andres Hurtado, Masayoshi Ueno, Daniel Kirigin, and Juan Carlos Paniagua, who have been playing together for years, as well as the lone senior on the team, Celso Moscoso.
The prospects for the season may become much clearer after Thursday’s clash between Christian Learning and Cambridge Cambridge
Cooperative’s team looks good on paper, but the Jaguars have often looked good on paper in recent years -- only to flop when they got on the floor. Still, the Jaguars can’t help but benefit from the return of Milan Marinkovic from the US
This year’s seniors at Cooperative were untouchable when they went undefeated as a junior varsity team. At that time it was thought that the Jaguars would be unbeatable for years to come. However, people around the league have begun wondering whether maybe that class peaked too soon.
The Jaguars have not been a contender for the championship since 2008. Indeed, they have spent much of that time residing in the League cellar. Moreover, it’s understood from reliable sources that several players from the golden JV team of four years ago have elected to buff up for their class trip trip to Cancun instead of enduring full-court drills.
International once again plays the role of wild card in the race. The Griffins traditionally have started slowly, and then came on with a rush at the end of the season. Last year, as in 2009, the rush carried them all the way to the championship games, in which, however, they were defeated easily (though not disgraced) by Christian Learning.
Still, this will be a tough year for them to be spoilers again. Several of the team´s better players from last year, including star Juan Sebastian Narvaez, have graduated. Coach Reyes Gil will be trying to cobble together a new winning combination from a bunch of eager young players including sophomore Francisco Gonzales and ninth graders Christian Jorge and Juan Carlos Narvaez. There are no seniors on the International roster.
Girls Basketball
Moving over to the girls’ contest, Cooperative has to be rated as the odds-on favorite to repeat as champions. The only important player they lost to graduation was Aldana Roda, the team captain. Back to play this year are guards Giovanna Varalta and Tania Landivar, together with forwards Ana Peredo and Carla Limpias.
Together they have formed the nucleus of a team that hasn’t lost since early in the 2009 season, when Christian Learning did them in with a flurry of three-pointers. Senior Sofia Sotelo has been the point guard on the team and if she continues to recover successfully from a knee injury, she could be back as well
Still, Roda’s losss means there’s a gap in the Jaguars’ “back wall” of Roda, Peredo and Limpias that often seemed to “loom up” in intimidating fashion against smaller opponents – and all of Co-operative’s opponents were smaller. There are experienced players on hand, including Geraldine Lopez and Daniela Barberi, but nobody of quite the same stature as Roda.
However, rumors have been floating out of the Cooperative that the team had gotten a little jaded. After the Jaguars’ triumphs in soccer and volleyball in the SCISL last season, and in the Friendship Games against other “American Schools” in La Paz
Christian Learning’s team last year showed that the Jaguars were vulnerable, losing one regular season game by only two points. The Jaguars won the championship by five points, but people just looking at the record book might forget that with five minutes to go the Eagles were ahead by four points.
Christian Learning, to be sure, faces a replacement problem of its own in finding a new center to take the place of the now-graduated Tabitha Malloy. Also gone from last year are Jessica Smith, whose family is back in the States for a year, and Jihea Ahn, who graduated. Players continuing from last year include track star Abby Phillips and senior Dahye Chun. This year may end up being a rebuilding year for the Eagle squad as they learn to adapt to playing without Malloy, but then again, the Eagles just might end up surprising everyone with a great season.
Speaking of replacement problems, Cambridge Cambridge
Indeed, it would be wrong to say that Josi Rodriguez, Nicole Fermin, Mako Ueno, Isadora Santos, Amaya Yañez, and Kamilla Riveros will be “moving up” from JV to the varsity this year, since they all played in most of last year’s varsity games. The only difference will be that this year, as ninth graders, they will be a whole year older.
And they know how to play the game. Last year Cambridge Cambridge
One of those three, to be sure, was Lino, and the question this year will be whether the Cambridge “Smurfs” can find another Lino who will function – pardon the badly mixed metaphor -- as a nucleus to their high-energy electrons. One possible candidate to fill that role is senior Lucia Candia.
International has, for reasons that defy easy explanation, never been a factor in girls basketball. Last year they lost in the playoff consolation game to Cambridge 0, in what is believed to be the only shutout in varsity League history.
After that game, International’s Beatriz Nallar, who because of her accomplishments in track, volleyball, and soccer, will be remembered as one of the greatest athletes to ever play in the SCISL, explained, “We just can’t play basketball.“
To make things even worse, two of the more competent players on last year’s team – Florencia Sosa and Maria Victoria Gutierrez – have graduated.
But, as any expert in clichés can tell you, what goes around comes around, and every dog has its day. Some day the Griffins are going to be the same kind of threat in basketball that they are in other sports, and that day may not be far off.
The Griffins have solid returning veterans in Laura Giotto and Nallar. Fabiana Zelada and Ciara Harriague, who excelled as junior varsity players, move up to the varsity this year. Who know? Perhaps it’s time for the worm to turn.
