From the very first 3-pointer of the game, Mountain View was in full control of the 65-33 win against Santa Clara.
The Spartans hit seven 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game with 11 3-pointers in a 65-33 sharp-shooting win on Jan. 8, thanks to a 26-point performance from guard Alana Hernandez and contributions from several freshmen.
“This is probably the best 3-point shooting team I’ve had in the 10 years I’ve been the coach,” Mountain View head coach Xavier Cook said.
Hernandez had the first five points for Mountain View and 12 to start the first half, hitting four 3-pointers and helping the team to an early 18-8 lead in the first quarter and a 39-20 lead into halftime. The senior captain, a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division all-league first team performer last year, puts her shooting skills down to the extra practice on the weekends, with Cook noting she remains a focal point for the team.
“We’re not going to go far unless she’s knocking down those shots that she gets in the game,” Cook said. “Everyone knows what she can do. We all know she is going to shoot the 3-ball; we’ve got to find ways to get her the ball to knock down the 3-ball.”
With senior Ellie Westgate out for the next two weeks, the team has relied on its freshmen class to help carry the burden. Freshman Fiona Lee tallied 17 points against Santa Clara, leading the team with five 3-pointers, while freshman Kamya Patwardhan had nine points and junior Jillian Higa had six.
“The young ones are playing high-level AAU, so they’re in those games where they are doing all this stuff, so coming out here to high school, it’s just easy for them,” Cook said of the freshmen class.
Hernandez believes the team can win the league with the help of the new crop of freshmen who know how to shoot, noting she and other senior leaders have encouraged the freshmen to learn from mistakes and honing dribbling, shooting and passing skills.
“I think that as long as the upperclassmen continue to motivate them and tell them everything is going to be OK, they are going to continue to have their heads up, and that’s what we need in the game,” Hernandez said.
Mountain View (8-3) poured it on in the third quarter to push the lead to 54-27 over Santa Clara (2-7) before pulling its starters in the middle of the fourth quarter. After losing its league opener against Palo Alto Jan. 5, the win Tuesday allowed the Spartans to reset to get its first league win of the season. Cook felt the biggest takeaway from the Santa Clara game was playing as a group instead of as individuals like against Palo Alto, noting the team made several passes each possession to find an open player cutting to the basket for easy layups for open 3-pointers.
“When it was all said and done, they punched us in the mouth, and when we looked up, we lost the game by 11,” Cook said of the Palo Alto loss. “Tonight was about trusting each other, doing everything together, moving together on defense, finding an open player, driving the ball to a layup. It was about being one unit tonight.”
Mountain View is now 1-1 in league and plays away at Saratoga at 6 p.m. Friday.
