Menlo’s varsity girls basketball team entered Tuesday’s game against Woodside Priory 11-3 with their largest loss by only nine points. However, Priory, who Menlo hasn’t beaten since 2022, handed the Knights a 56-15 defeat.
“Priory’s got four top 20 state wins already this year in California,” head coach Ryan Cooper said. “We knew it was going to be difficult. […] We were looking at doing things tonight that we can control.”
Priory came out swinging an early 20-5 lead at the end of the first period. In the second quarter, the Knights struggled to gain any real offensive momentum, missing five of their six free throws and ending the quarter down 32-9.
At halftime, the crowd was treated to a halftime show where senior Katie Kossow and junior Jazlyn Garcia competed to see who’d make the most shots in a minute, with the winner taking home a $25 Woodside Roadhouse gift card. Kossow won the gift card with eight baskets while Garcia knocked down five shots.
In the second half, Menlo only scored six points, moving the Knights’ record to 1-2 in league play. Junior captain Sophia Longinidis said this was not the team’s best performance, but thinks they will take much away from the loss.
“Having 100% energy the whole game, not really getting down on ourselves no matter how much we’re losing by, lifting each other up and keeping that energy consistent [is what we can learn from this],” Longinidis said. “There’s always things we can improve on — communication, playing together, having better flow [and] not rushing while we’re playing.”
