The Clovis West girls basketball team traveled to Orlando, Florida during the holidays and came back home with some hardware, as well as unforgettable memories. Continuing their winning habit in Orlando, the Golden Eagles took the championship in the top division at the KSA Holiday Classic.
In the championship game of the tournament, Clovis West cruised to a 76-39 win against Ellison High School from Texas. But that wasn’t the only resounding victory for this powerhouse California team.
On their way to the title, the Golden Eagles earned a 63-19 win against Lower Merion from Pennsylvania, as well as a 51-22 win against North Allegheny (also from Pennsylvania) and a 61-21 win against United South from Texas.
“Competing in the KSA tournament was a really good experience personally and for our team,” Clovis West sophomore Riley Walls said. “In every single game we worked hard and played as a team, and winning the championship was just a bonus to all of our hard work.”
Despite the lopsided scores, Walls said it wasn’t easy to travel to the other side of the country and perform at a high level.
“An important lesson we learned was that you have to push through adversity. Having to play the day after traveling across the country into a new time zone can be challenging, but as a team we were able to push through it,” the sophomore said. “Another lesson we learned was that hard work pays off. We practice everyday and work hard so that we can improve on things to help make our team successful.”
Junior Athena Tomlinson said the team “didn’t want to underestimate anyone and risk having an unnecessary blemish on our record.”
“We had to take time to prepare and watch film, looking for any deficiencies in our opponents and predict what weaknesses of ours they would try to exploit,” Tomlinson said. “We had to study film with any free time we had.”
The junior also took time to reflect on her own strength and weaknesses after competing in Orlando.
“I personally learned of multiple ways I can impact the game in other ways besides scoring,” she said. “Basketball can be a complex and intricate sport in terms of matchups. No two teams are alike, so every game is played slightly differently.”
As she faced different types of defensive strategies during the tournament in Orlando, Tomlinson made adjustments to her game as needed.
“In some games teams will face guard me from the start of the game. In others, they might sag off and play me for the drive,” Tomlinson said. “During one particular game in Florida versus North Allegheny, the defense completely collapsed when I dribbled into the paint, so I spent most of the first half distributing the ball to my teammates.”
Before leaving the Sunshine State, the Golden Eagles embarked on a well-deserved adventure to Universal Studios.
“Universal Studios was a great experience. I personally have never even been to the Universal Studios in California, but the one in Florida was really fun and I enjoyed it,” Walls said. “Having to stand in the line for 2-3 hours was definitely worth it. I think all my teammates would agree with me that the Harry Potter Motorbikes ride was worth the two-hour wait.”
Tomlinson is proud to admit that she is one of the biggest Harry Potter fans on the team.
“We were able to expose the nerds/geeks of the group by who was most interested in the Harry Potter theme park (me being one of them),” she said.
In the midst of having a good time in Orlando, the team embraced the opportunity to strengthen its bond.
“I think this trip bought our team together by being able to have down time with each other before and after all of our games. Our team is already really close with each other, but when we go on trips it’s nice to just sit down at restaurants as a team, put our phones away, and just interact with each other,” Walls said. “We enjoyed visiting Universal Studios and being able to hang out with each other.”
“Each trip brings the team together as a team,” Tomlinson adds. “I think that going to universal studios helped us rely on other people to get to rides and plan out our day.”
There was one more special occasion for the Golden Eagles before they returned to California.
“A memorable moment in Florida was the ‘Celebration of Athletes’ dinner that the KSA staff put on for all the players and coaches,” Walls said. “Our team enjoyed singing and dancing with each other and with other teams.”
After coming back home, Clovis West kicked off the new year with business as usual, taking down Mission Hills 71-38 to improve to 16-0 on the season.