In just the second game of the season, the Sobrato High girls basketball team faced one of the best teams in the nation in St. Mary’s of Stockton. The result was rather predictable, as the Bulldogs fell, 80-22. It was an experience unlike any other, as a stacked St. Mary’s squad filled with Division I prospects lit up the scoreboard with remarkable ease.
Still, the game proved to be beneficial for Sobrato, which enters Thursday’s Blossom Valley League Mount Hamilton Division game against Leigh at 11-6 overall and 3-0 in division play.
“When I signed up for the St. Mary’s game, I knew it was going to be a learning experience,” Bulldogs coach Erica Wallace said. “Our girls were blown away in seeing the St. Mary’s players and how they moved like NBA players. To have that experience put us in an interesting position. I feel the level of play we’ve been exposed to hopefully gives us a blueprint in what we’re trying to emulate.”
That means Sobrato plans on suffocating teams with full-court pressure defense, a great strategy since the majority of girls teams at the high school level have trouble breaking an effective press.
“Right now we’re trying to generate a lot of our offense off the press, so we’ve had to move players around to find the right combination where we produce points off our defense,” Wallace said. “The challenge mentally is getting the girls there, and I feel like our defense is improving dramatically. The focus is on defense and being able to rotate to the right spots so our press is tough to break.”
In the off-season, the BVAL decided to change basketball division format, resulting in fewer league games. That meant Wallace could beef up the non-league portion of the team’s schedule, and that’s exactly what she did.
“I wanted to get creative and make sure the girls got a chance to see what the best of the best looked like in St. Mary’s,” she said. “Playing tough teams will be useful when it comes down to league and playing against teams in our area.”
Kianna Maldia, a junior point guard and one of the BVAL’s division Most Valuable Players a season ago, has done a terrific job of setting the tempo and making sound decisions.
“Coming into this year she had big shoes to fill, which were her own ironically,” Wallace said. “She’s a natural passing point guard and can find the smallest of windows to get the ball to her teammates. She can average 10 assists a game upward if everything goes well. She always wants to incorporate her teammates into the flow of play and is hypersensitive to the fact that she doesn’t want to be a ball hog. She’s a D1 player if she keeps on progressing.”
Ally Nodohara, a senior forward, routinely shuts down whomever she is guarding with stifling defensive play. Nodohara also has the ability to connect from the outside, often in situations when the team needs to score. Last season, Nodohara hit a couple of game-winning 3-point shots.
“She’s one of our defensive specialists and a shooter,” Wallace said. “She can read the opponent and knows when to go for the steal and start a trap.”
Jessica Byrum, a junior post, totaled 20 points and four blocks in a 63-44 win over Leland on Jan. 11. Byrum probably has the least amount of years of organized basketball experience on the team, and yet she continues to impress with solid play.
“She just started liking basketball, which is another amazing thing about her game,” Wallace said. “She can hit the 3-point shot and is starting to believe she is as good as she is.”
Freshman Trezure Tu’ua has been precocious with her play, with the ability to produce a double-double every time she steps on the court.
“She works hard, has the power of a horse and has rose up to the occasion,” Wallace said.
Tu’ua, Byrum and Maldia are the team’s leading scorers, while senior captain Samantha Brenny leads the team vocally while hitting shots at the most opportune times.
“She gets us out of our (scoring) slumps,” Wallace said. “When we can’t make a shot, she’s one of those kids that find a way to hit a shot and pick up the team in a positive manner. She is irreplaceable on the court.”
