The Piedmont Highlanders girls varsity basketball team lost to the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons 47-56 on Jan. 14, breaking their win streak of six games and bringing their record to 12-2.
The loss was unexpected because pre-game statistics favored Piedmont, who had been performing well in league and non-league games. Piedmont had more points per game on average and was ranked 27th in California compared to Bishop O’Dowd’s 117th place.
Piedmont dropped to 37th place, while Bishop O’Dowd rose to 91st because of the game.
“From previous seasons, I know that any team can outperform another, even if ranked higher. I pay attention to rankings, but they are not the end-all-be-all for me,” guard senior Shakila Zuberi said.
Guard senior Cleo Afsar said the team prioritizes growth as a group and progression toward players’ goals instead of focusing on rankings.
The game was fast-paced and competitive, with the ball constantly moving around. Both teams played physically, even going to the ground to fight for possession.
“I understand how much this means to my coach and my team and the program, and I wanted to just go after it. I wanted to do everything I could to make sure we got that win, especially at Piedmont,” Zuberi said.
Piedmont led 33-29 at the end of the second half, mainly due to Zuberi’s numerous three-point shots. Bishop O’Dowd changed to a 2-3 zone defense strategy in the second half, hampering Piedmont’s offense by allowing only 14 points in the second half.
Afsar said the team’s momentum seemed to change between the two halves.
“The first half was really good, and we were very aggressive, but in the second half, we didn’t really make our shots, didn’t really play as a team, and didn’t really find the best passes and the best options, so we didn’t create good opportunities to score,” Afsar said.
Zuberi said the momentum shift was because of team dynamics.
“We couldn’t really play together and get to the bucket, so our defense fell apart,” she said.
Piedmont and Bishop O’Dowd’s rivalry also changed players’ views of the game to varying degrees.
“We knew from the beginning on that O’Dowd is one of our main rivals, and we expected it to be a hard-fought game,” Afsar said. “We tried to pressure them, and in the practices before, we decided what we had to do.”
Seven of the eight Piedmont girls varsity basketball athletes are new to the school because they transferred schools or are freshmen.
“I don’t think the whole team understood the rivalry. Not everyone was into it the whole time, and I guess we thought we did our job in the first half,” Zuberi said.
She also said the game will help the team improve their mindset in the future.
“We’re really going to emphasize rebounding and hustle. You shouldn’t have to teach effort, but I think if we focus on the keys of defense, we’ll be a lot more successful in future games,” Zuberi said. “We’ll take this loss and bottle it up, and that should fuel how we play the next game.”
Piedmont will play at Alameda High on Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m.
