Girls take 3-5 record into final stretch of preseason
The Lady Jaguars are off to a competitive and challenging start to the 2016/17 basketball campaign, battling both opponents and injuries in compiling a 3-5 record through eight preseason games.
The Jags have faced some adversity in the early going, playing without the services of injured starting forward Cecilia Smith, and having missed junior center and leading scorer Gabby Giddings for a couple of outings.
Despite the obstacles, Windsor has proven to be a tough match-up for most teams so far.
“Our number one priority is to stay healthy,” Jags head coach Jeff Paul said. “We’re pleased with our conditioning this season, the players are working hard in practice and it shows in the game.”
Areas of concern for the Jaguars have been both a lack of consistency on both ends of the floor, with the team averaging 43.8 points per game while allowing opponents 53.7 per outing.
“We need to improve our shooting percentage so we can score in the 50’s, which in turn should take pressure off of our defense to hold teams under 40 points,” Paul noted. “We need to utilize our size to our advantage and dominate the inside game both on offense and defense.”
Navigating a tough pre-league schedule, Windsor has posted wins over Healdsburg (38-26), Urban (46-37) and Sonoma Valley (57-50), but have weathered losses to St. Ignatius (59-39), Eastside College Prep (76-30), Gunn (65-45), Eureka (59-58) and Analy (58-38).
Top contributors have been Giddings, junior guards Hannah May and Sabrina Simili, sophomore guards Tori Russotti and Caitlyn Murphy, senior forward Allison Post, junior forward Mattie Murphy and senior guard Samantha Baltazar.
Windsor will wrap up the preseason at the annual West Coast Jamboree in the East Bay on Dec. 28-30, opening up in the Amethyst bracket with a Dec. 28 game against Bethel of Vallejo at 7 p.m.
The Lady Jaguars will open the North Bay League season at Casa Grande on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
