MIRAMONTE 

    Head girls basketball coach Ace Wright had a simple vision for the team from the start: “I wanted us to be more of an aggressive defensive team, where we are pressing more and playing five-on-five defense. Offensively, I just wanted them to get out there and ball out.”

    It did not come together immediately for Miramonte in that after 24 games, their record stood at 12-12 but it was at that point that things came together for the team, winning seven of their last eight games, including all four of their games in the Division 3 championship, defeating Benicia in the final 57-47 for their first NCS championship since 2017. Miramonte went on to defeat Branson in the first round of the CIF championship 51-41, but would then lose a very close game to the top seeded Faith Christian 54-50.

    After trailing at halftime to Benicia, Wright made the necessary adjustments. “We knew that we had to pick up the intensity. We began to press up high and made their ball handlers uncomfortable.”

    Wright gave the players credit for their dominant defensive play all season. “They had the tenacity. They were buying into our game plan and showed up every day at practice, making sure that they gave their best effort.”

    The front court was led by Lorelei Keenan, Ally Rogin, and Libby Attwood who did a great job in scoring and controlling the boards and co-captain Maegan Eichenberger ran the offense along with the other guards, co-captain Annelise Lindberg, Ava Noga, Freida Vierra, and Anika Vasisht.
 
    Wright did not alibi for having such a small roster. “Basketball is a game of highs and lows so I just taught them you can’t get too high or too low and that was pretty much our goal.” 

    Point guard Maegan Eichenberger took on the role of co-captain very seriously. “I tried to be the calm voice on the court, helping us keep our composure which I always tried to embody. I’m blown away as to where we ended up and so proud of everyone putting in so much work. Coach Wright changed our offense a little but it was mostly the energy she brought that melded us together as a team.”

ACALANES

    Following last season with the loss of five seniors to graduation, it was not clear how good this team was going to be. As it turned out, there was a solid core of seniors and an inclusion of young talent that just needed to be comfortable playing at the varsity level.

    Starting the season off with a 3-3 record, Acalanes went on to win 12 of their next 13 games. The team was led by their three senior guards, co-captain Lexi Le, Sofia Fernandez, and Cameron Thornton. 

    Head coach Margaret Gartner spoke of each of their individual skills: “Lexi filled a new role this year, running the team. She made plays for everybody else and was able to find the hot player. Sofia played with a lot of confidence, shooting and driving to the basket. Cam was the glue that held the team together, passing, guarding a top opponent, and rebounding.”

    Gartner also spoke of the team’s chemistry constantly improving and how well they shared the ball. “We were able to grow as a team and saw our composure and confidence getting better. Our girls did not back down to big people. We called it gang rebounding where everyone had to pitch in, getting the extra shot and preventing our opponents from getting a second shot.”

    Millie Jones and Leah O’Neill were two freshmen that played a substantial time, improving each game. “It was a matter of Millie learning that she can play at this level and Leah just being comfortable on the floor and making the right decisions,” Gartner said.

    After finishing the regular season with a 19-8 record, Acalanes in Division 1 of the NCS playoffs won their first two games but lost the lead and the game in the semifinals to Redwood. 

    Acalanes came back to defeat Pinole Valley to make it to the CIF State Championship in Division 2 with a 4th seed but again losing a fourth quarter lead and the game 74-62 to Del Oro, finishing the season with a 22-10 record. Gartner came away with some satisfaction from the season: “This team surpassed our expectations.”

CAMPOLINDO 

    For the three years that Doug Cardoni has been the head coach at Campolindo, the team has shown a constant improvement. After taking over a 9-17 team that went 1-11 in league play, starting in 2023-2024, Campolindo has gone 15-15, and got an 8th seed in Division 3, 18-12 and 10-4 in league play and a 7th seed in Division 2 and this year went 20-9 and 10-3 in league and earned the 14th seed in Division 1.

    The playoff schedule did Campolindo no favors sending Campolindo to play the 3rd seeded Arcata High School, traveling the 293 miles the day before, a trip that took six hours under hazardous driving conditions and took something out of everyone. 

    Despite losing 48-37, Cardoni said of the team’s effort, “We were only six points behind in the fourth quarter and could have won that game but our shots just did not go in at the end.”

    Having graduated his top two point guards, Ali McCauley and Raegan Shum, was a major concern for Cardoni. “I was concerned about not having a true point guard because, early on, there was a reluctance for some to take command of the ball but as the season went on, any one of five girls became comfortable playing point guard and it was the girls adapting and trusting themselves that they could do it.”

    Despite losing four players to graduation, Tori Gilbert, Becca Tanner, Sofia Iakovleva and Avery Yasukochi, there is a solid core of underclassmen that saw substantial playing time led by starters Jenna Chan and Natalia Jaramillo along with Addison Davis, Kyle Pearlstein, and Jeevan Dhaliwal.

    Cardoni is anticipating continued improvement next year. “We had 33 girls out for the team and for the first time, we had to cut people. Our JV team had a great record and we’re getting to the point where we will have a solid base of players across all the grades.”