Alyssa Firato entered her junior year with the world at her
fingertips.
She was coming off a first full season of varsity basketball in
which she led Sobrato in scoring for the second straight winter and
was one of two true post players to receive first-team all-league
honors in the Santa Teresa Division. She was an inch taller, a step
faster and even more lethal in the paint after a rigorous
offseason. No one could stop her. Things changed dramatically
however only minutes into the Bulldogs’ Dec. 1 opener against
Christopher.
Alyssa Firato entered her junior year with the world at her fingertips.
She was coming off a first full season of varsity basketball in which she led Sobrato in scoring for the second straight winter and was one of two true post players to receive first-team all-league honors in the Santa Teresa Division.
She was an inch taller, a step faster and even more lethal in the paint after a rigorous offseason. No one could stop her.
Things changed dramatically however only minutes into the Bulldogs’ Dec. 1 opener against Christopher. The 5-foot, 11-inch Firato lost her footing during a tie-up, fell and hit her head on the Sobrato gym floor.
“You could hear it from the top of the stands,” said Bulldogs guard Caitlin Ryman, one of Firato’s close friends. “I knew she had a concussion.”
That Firato did. She spent the next six weeks recovering while the Bulldogs slipped to 3-9. Three of those losses came by less than 12 points – Firato’s scoring average.
“It’s been hard. Really hard,” Firato said. “When we were losing, I was just sitting there like, ‘Put me in, please!’ There’s some days where I felt good, but then symptoms would come back and get worse. It was just on and off.”
The loss of Firato wasn’t just about points and rebounds. The Bulldogs have made up for some of those with solid contributions by senior center Jessica Westall (11.2 points per game) and junior guard Jordan Smith (9.3). They could not replace Firato’s easy-going spirit on the court.
“She’s obviously a good player, but the girls just missed being around her, missed the camaraderie,” Sobrato coach Terry Smith said.
“It’s always tough to have a team member get hurt,” Jordan Smith added. “We have Lindsey (Ellenburg) hurt. We have Alyssa hurt with a concussion. That’s scary stuff.”
Firato shut down completely during her rehabilitation. She was unable to work out, much less practice because of a bill recently passed by the state that prohibits concussed athletes from participating in sports until cleared by a licensed health care provider. Concussion symptoms can last up to eight weeks.
“I haven’t been able to do anything physically,” Firato said. “They wouldn’t let me.”
Since her return Firato has looked as fit as ever. She is averaging 15.5 points through four games, including a 15-point effort in her first game back on Jan. 10. She scored 17 in last Saturday’s 47-22 victory over Del Mar and followed that with another 17 points and 16 rebounds Tuesday against Prospect.
In that game Firato ripped an inbound pass away from Prospect’s Aida Audagic and laid the ball in at the end of the first quarter, rebounded and put back three missed free throws, including one of her own, and created mismatches all night.
“It was fun playing against them,” Panthers center Emily Oyarzabal said of Firato and Westall, who had 10 points and six rebounds. “They had really good defense, but we kept fighting.”
Sobrato led by five with 3:25 to play after trailing by as many as 20-8 in the second quarter. The Bulldogs trimmed the 12-point deficit to 20-14 by halftime, then went to work in the third quarter behind Firato, who began getting the ball farther away from the basket so she could dribble-penetrate and create open shots around her. Jordan Smith hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with four minutes left, and followed that with another trey to make it 38-33 SHS.
Firato had 13 points and 13 rebounds in the second half.
“She’s a very tough matchup because she plays the four and the five, and she’s quicker than most fours and fives in our league,” coach Smith said. “It just creates mismatches, and she does a nice job with ball-handling and beating the press.”
Firato faced a good challenge from the 5-foot-11 Oyarzabal and took her game to a higher level.
“When Alyssa goes against other good players, she gets jazzed,” coach Smith said. “She really likes that. She likes the competition.”
The joy of finally being healthy wasn’t lost on the charismatic Firato afterward. She spoke quietly but smiled, thinking about the “awesome” win Saturday and the possibility of several more to come. It’s not too late for her and the Bulldogs to have the season they envisioned.
“That was the best win ever,” Firato said. “It felt good because we’re close, and everyone did their part. I just want us to keep playing together.”
