LIVERMORE — The court was bustling with energy. The stands hummed with chatter, a bigger turnout than usual. Of course, it was the Hawks versus Gladiators, the Chabot and Las Positas women’s basketball rival game to break up the monotony of the school semester.
On Feb. 8, the lady Hawks got poached in a 89-39 defeat to Chabot College on home turf. Although the Hawks put in a hearty amount of effort, bad communication, missed shots and turnovers piled up to their detriment.
“Sometimes words don’t get through, it causes miscommunications on what we heard,” said Las Positas freshman guard Mi’Aru Garnett.
The Hawks started with a 10 point lead, but by the end of the first quarter Chabot started closing in. By halftime, Chabot surpassed Las Positas 45-21.
The Hawks were slow and sluggish in contrast to Chabot, who maintained their energy throughout the game. Las Positas had frequent switches between posts and disagreements about who should be guarding who.
A lot of the work fell on Garnett, freshman forward Monique Cavness and sophomore guard Semaj Steen to keep the ball moving. As the game wore on they weren’t as quick to get up when they fell down.
“Our posts weren’t stealing, and we were kind of flimsy,” Garnett said.
“Not all of the turnovers were intentional, we had a lot of high passes which weren’t good passes, which is why that happened”
By the third quarter the Hawks were down on energy and morale, and Garnett suffered a scary looking foul where Chabots team member’s hand unintentionally ended up swatting her in the eye.
“My vision is back, but it took a toll on me for a few minutes,” Garnett said.
Though the Las Positas’ team spirit seemed drained, it was a different story entering the hallway, where a handful of Chabot and Las Positas teammates conversed and reflected on the game.
“It was a very competitive game,” said Chabot’s sophomore center Ariel Hines.
“They were really in it in the first quarter but then we looked at our record and thought, ‘we should be winning’ and we just turned up.”
During halftime there were multiple events held to give appreciation to the veterans at Las Positas. One event was a special demonstration between Las Positas probationary firefighters and veterans where they marched and displayed the American flag.
Veterans were honored with quilts in a ceremony where they wrapped blankets around themselves as a metaphorical hug from the community.
At the end of the game, the Hawks gave special thanks to the veterans on the court.
The final games of Las positas women’s basketball will be away at Mission and Ohlone College Feb. 15 and 17.
Brijae Boyd is a staff writer for Express.
