Lady Warriors Basketball
Lady Warrior Fiona Ferry #4 drives to the basket in a game versus Ridgeview earlier
this season. Ferry, a junior, set a school record scoring 42 points in a game against
East Bakersfield on Jan. 19. The Lady Warriors finished 13-13 for the season, 3-7 in
league play, missing the valley playoffs for the first time since 2001. (Photo by The Tehachapi News.)
Posted by John Nelson, The Tehachapi News, on Febuary 21, 2016 No Playoffs For Lady Warriors
Despite Season Ending Win
In the end, the same thing that made them so good at times also might have been their undoing – the exuberance of youth.
Despite pulling together to win their final game of the season and end a four-game losing streak, the Warriors girls basketball team did not make the playoffs this sesaon.
“It was a tough season,” senior captain Angie Kroeger said. “We started off in preseason pretty well, but the stronger teams in the league and our lack of consistency really hurt us.”
Thus, their season ended on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at West High School with a 51-35 victory. Kroeger scored 25 points, including three 3-pointers.
With the victory, they ended their season at 13-13 and in fourth place in the South Yosemite League at 3-7. It wasn't quite good enough for CIF postseason, despite the Warriors' optimism.
“I was feeling pretty confident after that last win,” Kroeger said. “It was a great win.”
Head coach Jacques Vachon agreed that “not making it to the tournament hurt, but the team showed resilience and finished with a win.”
Tehachapi led West 22-15 at halftime and polished off the Vikings with a 21-7 fourth quarter. Kroeger also had eight rebounds and a pair of steals.
Fiona Ferry, who had been scoring at a 20-point clip until teams started double and triple teaming her midway through the season, was held to 12. They were the only Warriors in double figures.
It seemed like everytime Ferry was held down, Kroeger came through, and everytime Kroeger slowed down, Ferry sped up.
“I think it was determination on everyone's part, everyone really picked up and helped,” Kroeger said.
The Warriors won five of their first eight games this season, but the competition got a bit stiffer in league. The girls lost three of their first four SYL games, including a 56-51 squeaker to Golden Valley.
“We had some games we definitely should have won,” Kroeger said, “and we should have definitely had the opportunity to go to the playoffs.”
Besides Ferry, the Warriors next year will return starters Stephanie Suarez and Alicia Johnson, both sophomores, as well as two other sophomores who saw a lot of time off the bench, Keily Corpus and Summer Chapman.
Vachon said he was looking forward to to next season.
“At the beginning of the season, expectations for the girls team were low,” Vachon said. “With so few returning players, we were not given a good chance of doing well.
“The seniors are going to be sorely missed, but we have a good base to build upon. It was clearly a transition year.”
It's a transition the senior Kroeger won't make, but she's anxious to see how it turns out.
“Because of how young the team is, they all get two or three more opportunities at it, and I'm excited to see how they perform,” Kroeger said.
Did it almost make her wish she wasn't a senior.
“Almost,” she said.