The Skyline women’s basketball team finished in the 13th seed, good enough to host their first playoff game on Wednesday, Feb. 24. The Trojans finished with a record of 18-10.
The Trojans knew that they would become playoff participants early on in the season. Coach Watters agrees with the seeds and believes it’s a good reflection of how their season went.
“We got off to a good start, we were hot, so we knew in mid January that there was a good chance,” Watters said. “The seed is a good reflection of the type of season we had.”
The Trojans ended their season with very intense high-scoring games, such as their game against Foothill where the final score was 80-42 and their final game against Chabot 66-58.
“We have been fortunate that we’ve played in a number of close games,” Watters said. “We’ve played in a number of meaningful games already within our conference season.”
Going into the upcoming playoff games Watters talks about how there won’t be much preparation for these high stake playoff games as the Trojans have already participated in similar pressure throughout the season.
Over the next few days, Watters plans on focusing the team’s strengths and building on them. The Trojans are a heavy guard team, so filling in the gaps is very important for success.
“We do a really nice job of sharing the basketball, which makes us harder to guard,” Watters said. “And defensively we do a really nice job of communicating.”
Watters expresses how this team has really evolved throughout this season compared to the beginning. The Trojans lost athletes to personal problems and illnesses in the beginning of the season, and overcoming this adversity has allowed the team to build confidence in the season moving forward.
With any solid team there are always challenges you encounter throughout a season. For the Trojans, they want to pick up the pace of their game to match their competitors.
“Taft college, our upcoming opponent plays really fast, so we will need to focus on controlling the tempo and dictating the game,” Watters said. “It’s a faster game than we usually play, that our conference usually plays.”
The Taft women’s basketball team also finished 18-10 in their lead with high scores as well. Taft will be traveling up from Bakersfield county to face off against our Trojans February 24.
Comparing the two schools statistically, Skyline performed better throughout the conference, but Taft was more consistent on the road compared to Skyline. This might be an advantage for Taft since Skyline will be hosting this game.
Taft had a great start to the season with 11 of their first 12 games being wins; compared to Skyline, where they were receiving both wins and losses in the beginning of the season.
Taft is in a conference with high-scoring games with as many as 80-100 points. This is a huge attribute the Trojans need to realize, as they’re not too familiar with high-scoring games. If they want to be successful, they need to come in strong early on in the game to set the momentum.
In high-stakes games like in the playoffs, it’s incredibly common for athletes to lose sight of what the game actually means and get lost in the wins and losses. Watters emphasized the importance of the coaching staff bringing light to this struggle and grounding their players.
“We talked about the best way to show your family and friends the work that you have put in is to play really good team basketball,” Watters said. “So we will echo that same message going into the playoffs…We need to remain who we are and stay true to our identity.”
Making playoffs is very important to the coaches, athletes and even the publicity for the school. The Trojans know they are a strong team and it’s been reflected throughout their entire season. Now it’s up to them to successfully compete against Taft to advance to the next round of playoffs.
