Give Terry Smith credit. As his Sobrato girls basketball team
continues to dwarf its win total from last preseason, the
second-year coach has stuck by his philosophy of not placing a huge
emphasis on wins and losses
MORGAN HILL
Give Terry Smith credit. As the Sobrato girls basketball team continues to dwarf its win total from last preseason, its second-year coach has stuck by his philosophy of not placing a huge emphasis on wins and losses.
Could you blame him if he did? The Bulldogs managed to win one tournament game last summer and would taste victory three times in the regular season.
“Winning is fun, and it’s good that our girls can experience it and believe in themselves more,” said Smith, whose team sat 5-8 after a 1-4 showing in the “Tug of War” Tournament held July 15-17 at Sobrato High School. “But more of it’s about making progress on the things we focus on, like learning plays and skills development. Are we playing hard and competing hard and competing every day? Scoring and winning games will take care of themselves if you do that.”
For evidence look at Sobrato’s lone victory last weekend by score of 23-18 (summer games are played with a running clock in two 20-minute halves) over Yerba Buena. The Bulldogs rallied from a five-point halftime deficit and clinched it in the final minute with Lindsey Ellenburg’s layup off a superb out-of-bounds play. Ellenburg set a pick to free up Jessica Westall, who received Alyssa Firato’s pass from the sideline and threaded the ball back to Ellenburg for the score.
Sobrato avenged a 14-point loss from three weeks earlier at a tournament in Santa Clara.
“That’s one thing we’re trying to work on this summer — executing under pressure,” Smith said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games, and that’s definitely good for a team in rebuilding mode like we are.”
Smith has seen plenty of other positive signs this offseason. The Bulldogs have built camaraderie and trust and are reporting to practice with a genuine urge to improve, even if it’s just conditioning.
Two of their starters, junior guard Jordan Smith and Firato — who led the team with 14 points a game last year and 10.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 steals as a freshman — recently honed their skills at a camp hosted by legendary Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer.
Westall, Sobrato’s 5-foot-11 senior captain, is playing to form as a third-year starter at center and has displayed outstanding leadership, Smith said.
“You can have all the talent in the world, but it’s nothing without chemistry and team-bonding,” he said. “Winning league and doing well in the playoffs has as much to do with what you’re doing in May, June and July as what you do in December, January and February.”
The second Annual “Tug of War” Tournament welcomed 18 south Bay Area teams to Morgan Hill.
San Marin finished 6-0 to win the varsity bracket, while South Bay elite, the travel team of Valley Christian High School, won the junior varsity division.
The tournament ran smoothly thanks to the help of volunteers, many of them SHS parents, Smith said.
