San Lorenzo Valley junior and team co-captain Poppy Owens had a team-best 11 points for the Cougar girls’ basketball team in their 34-27 loss to Soquel in Tuesday night’s Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League opener.
Seniors Taylor Dunn and Violet Derr had six and five points, respectively, for the Cougars, who dropped to 0-1 in league play this season.
“It was a great league opener. It was really aggressive,” SLV head coach Kenedi Walters said. “I, personally, like games when it’s close like that from start to finish over a blowout or killing a team. It definitely shows us what we’re looking for in the rest of the league, and how we can improve.”
SLV went on a 7-3 run to close out the second quarter, tying the score at 15-all going into halftime. However, that changed in the third stanza when they scored just three points and fell behind in the blink of an eye. Owens also picked up her third personal foul early in the quarter, forcing the Cougars to shift.
“We’ve been practicing for a certain defense throughout all the practice this week,” Owens said. “I think there was a shift in that that we couldn’t recover from.”
Walters said fatigue may have also played a role, and some players, including Owens, came out of the game for injuries.
“A reminder to my girls is not giving up from start to finish, and that they need to keep the energy up,” Walters said.
The Cougars got off to a hot start after winning three of their first five games during the non-league portion of their schedule. In addition, they went on a four-game win streak with victories over Mountain View Academy, Oceana of Pacifica, Downtown College Prep (San Jose) and Pajaro Valley.
SLV also suffered a three-game skid, including a 46-16 loss to St. Francis of Watsonville, and a pair of losses in the Steve Geramoni Tournament to George Washington of San Francisco and host Notre Dame of Belmont.
“We had gone through some pretty hard teams that we didn’t expect,” Owens said. “There’s been some blowouts. We just had to keep the spirit up and keep it going throughout the season because we know there’s harder teams coming up, too.”
Owens said competing against challenging opponents gave them more of a perspective of what’s working for them and what they need to work on, as well.
Other bumps in the road for Walters, who is entering her second season at the helm, are players getting sick or taking off for vacation, leaving a big void for scrimmages.
“Last week has been a little bit of a struggle, but I think moving forward we can improve on that,” Walters said.
SLV finished with a 9-16 overall record and placed fourth in the SCCAL standings, going 4-6 in league play during the 2023-24 campaign. Their season came to a close following a loss to Santa Cruz in the league’s postseason tournament.
The Cougars lost just two players in Kiely Jordan and Hannah Morley to graduation, which meant there was a lot to build off from last year.
The returning cast includes seniors Derr, Dunn, Jordan Berkemeyer, Sidney Mancini and Violet Slayer—the team’s third team captain; while Owens and Elani Schreiber lead the junior class.
“I love their positive energy,” Walters said. “We have six seniors this year, and I think that helps us out on the older girls showing the younger girls on how a team should be as a whole.”
Walters added they have some height this season, which is something they haven’t had in some time.
“We’re not a small team. I think we could use that to our advantage this season,” she said.
Newcomers on the Cougars are senior Ella Cook, sophomores Alyssa Best and Sophia Marello, and freshman Taylor Kievlen, who was called up from the junior varsity team.
“[Kievlen] has definitely shown us on the dribbling aspect and pushing the ball that she’s ready for the varsity level,” Walters said. “[Marello] has definitely shown us that she is going to be strong with the ball, driving to the hoop and passing it. I think that’s also helping our game a lot.”
Owens said one thing she and her two fellow co-captains addressed to the team this season was to become one union, play for each other. They had team-bonding activities during the winter break, such as a Secret Santa gift exchange, cookie decorating and other fun activities.
“No matter the game, no matter if we’re winning or losing, we want to all be there for each other,” Owens said.
SLV (8-6, 0-1) hosts Aptos (8-7, 0-1) on Friday at 5:30pm.
