On Wednesday, Jan. 21, varsity girls’ basketball was defeated by Capuchino High School 38-24. Coming into the game, both teams, along with Woodside High School, were tied for first place in the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Ocean Division, all holding a 4-0 record.

“We were both 4-0, and we were really excited about this game. They hit us with a big punch at the beginning, and took a little while for us to respond, but they were the better team today,” head coach Ned Diamond said. “They got to the ball first, and they shot the ball better, but our girls fought hard, so they gave their all.”

The Panthers struggled to score in the first quarter, falling behind as the Mustangs quickly put up several points on the board. By the end of the first quarter, the Panthers were already trailing 15-2.

By halftime, the team was down by 14 points and scored only two points in the third quarter, falling behind even more. Things turned around offensively in the fourth quarter when the Panthers scored 12 points, the most in a single quarter for them the entire game.

Diamond said the team struggled to address key details, including completing passes, missed shots, and being aggressive when looking for steals. As a result, the team changed its defensive strategy multiple times throughout the game.

“We went from our full court defense to our two-one-two, to our one-three-one, we tried everything. We got some steals on a one-three-one. We just threw the ball away. Then we went man[-on-man] in the second half,” Diamond said.

Although the Panthers trailed throughout the game, they tried to keep a positive mindset, according to senior shooting guard Halle Newman.

“We all are super uplifting people, and at practice, we try and stay super positive and uplift all of each other, so that when we have a bad game, we know it’s a group effort, and it wasn’t one person,” Newman said.

From this game, Newman said the team learned they needed to adjust their ball handling and improve their patience going into future games.

“We learned that we need to be more patient and we need to take care of the ball more,” Newman said. “But I think that these games are good because we can obviously learn from them and work hard and not have it happen again in further games.”

The team faced off against Terra Nova High School on Friday, Jan. 23, but lost to the Tigers 42-30 and now sits fourth in league standings.

The Panthers’ next game will be on the road against South San Francisco High School on Tuesday, Jan. 27.