For the first time in school history, the girls basketball team are 5A bi-district champions. 

It was a season of many firsts as the Tigers also defeated district foe, Chapin, for the first time in school history. The girls managed to defeat Chapin twice in a span of 8 days to secure a second place finish in league play.

Under the direction of new head coach, Nate Meys, the Tigers surpassed last season’s win total with 24 wins and 9 losses. 

“It just feels incredible. Everything we worked for, everything we work towards, like it finally showed, and I’m just so proud of all of us. I know I had a good game, but all of us did and we couldn’t bring out that win without everybody,” senior Amaris Ambriz said.

Amaris, along with fellow senior Natalia Thomas, had key performances all season.

Amaris reached a career milestone of 1,000 points and became the school’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Anna Yellen who she played with during her freshman season.

Natalia ranked 5th in the region for blocks, reaching a personal goal of 500-career blocks. 

“You have to  take it one possession at a time and then utilize what we’re doing, so once we go on offense, you have to try to do as much as you can when you’re in that position. And then when you go on defense or offense you just utilize the whole play itself,” Natalia said.

Most players on the team have had to adapt to several head coaching changes over the past four years. Coach Meys became the third coach for the Tigers since 2021. 

“It was like we had to adapt to what they wanted and had to play our game while also trying to play their game so it was always hard and challenging at the beginning of each season,” Natalia said.

The Tigers made the playoffs in the 2020-21 season, but just missed it the past two seasons. Coach Meys took over a team with five seniors who had been part of the team during the coaching changes. 

“I think coach Morales before did the best he could as well as coach Faubion and I really think everybody just comes in and tries their best with what they know,” coach Meys said. “And I really think that we each have our own coaching styles and different styles lead to different successes.” 

Coach Meys did credit the team for being competitive before he took over and said the team’s goals were to not only surpass their previous win total, but win a bi-district championship. 

“Those girls have been in the program for four years and we celebrated them on senior night,” Coach Meys said. “Really a great opportunity for each of these girls to do something special…all of the varsity players have really just done their job.”

Amaris added that playing in a college court had its challenges, but the crowd support helped them stay motivated. 

“It feels amazing. I mean, in the game we just played all together. Like you could just tell we all wanted to win,” Amaris said.

The Tigers lost the following game on Feb. 16 in the area round of the playoffs to Monterey Plainsmen with a score of 105-14.