Local teams have long-term injuries to overcome
MORGAN HILL — Injuries are part of the game. But how often are three long-term injuries part of a single game?
In one derailing nonleague tournament contest played Dec. 18 against Scotts Valley, everything changed for the Sobrato girls basketball team. The Lady Bulldogs lost one of their best shooters, senior Courtney Sedlak, to a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear, their top post player and co-captain, Katie Nicca, to a mild concussion and Jessica Westall, the athletic 5-foot-11 sophomore who is projected to help anchor the team inside, to a severe ankle sprain.
Sobrato lost 64-18, igniting a five-game slide.
“You could call it a disaster,” Bulldogs coach Natalie Bobuk said unflinchingly Monday. “It’s really starting over overnight. We’ve kind of had to restructure everything.”
Well, not everything. Bobuk still expects her team to advance through Mount Hamilton Division play, which, for the Bulldogs (3-7 overall), starts at 7 p.m. today against visiting Silver Creek (7-3). But it’s up to her surviving cast to make that happen.
“You have to push through it,” Bobuk said. “When you’re in a situation where you have a small team that doesn’t want it every minute, that’s the end of the game. It’s mind over matter. You have to say, ‘Yes, I can.’ ”
Nicca and Westall will return in the coming weeks. Until then, the undersized Bulldogs will rely on their quickness and conditioning. The usual starters, including point guard Melissa Cachopo, forward Pryanka Kumar and shooting guard Megan Ando will clock more minutes while the team’s limited substitutes get up to speed.
The situation is reminiscent to last winter, when Cachopo went down with a short-term injury near the start of league play. The Bulldogs battled their way back to the second round of sectionals.
Now they find themselves on delicate ground again, adjusting without overcompensating.
“It helped having to go through this last year,” Bobuk said. “The girls have to remember they can’t be the only one doing everything. That leads to more injuries, and it shows your teammates you don’t trust them.
“I’m excited to see where we go from here.”
Jeff Perkins’ Live Oak girls basketball team can relate to its cross-town rival. The Lady Acorns have lost senior point guard Niki Patel for the season.
Patel tore an ACL during Live Oak’s 46-27 loss to Sobrato on Dec. 8 when she collided with Sedlak.
“It’s a sad way for both girls to go out,” Perkins said. “It’s their senior year. They just want to play basketball.”
Perkins likes the progress his Acorns (2-6) have made from last year, when they collected one victory. Junior Meghan Perez has filled in admirably at the point, and senior Ariana Guerrero and freshman Fa Saulala have been strong inside.
Saulala had 20 points and 14 rebounds in a tournament game played two weeks ago.
“Fa has really helped us inside; she’s so physical,” Perkins said. “Ariana, the other girls just feed off her energy.”
The sixth-year coach is confident his team can challenge for the West Valley Division title if it improves offensively. Live Oak scores an average of 31 points a game to 45 points allowed.
“Honestly, I expect good things in league,” said Perkins, whose Acorns host their league opener at 7 p.m. today against Lincoln. “There’s something about them that gives me the confidence they’re going to do well.”
