If there's a positive about the Golden Valley's girls 0-6 start, it's this: There is room to improve. Cougars coach Matt Thissen has a list of things he'd like to see.
"We've struggled with, in this order: turnovers, putting the ball in the basket and leadership," Thissen said.
What Thissen does like is his team is giving up only 38 points per game.
The Cougars are making strides. They had a 22-20 lead Wednesday against Sunnyside, but managed just eight points in the second half.
Golden Valley is led by a couple of gritty seniors in Cristina Quizon and Beatriz Munoz. Quizon will be asked to handle the ball.
"Cristina has to make very good decisions with the ball," Thissen said. "We're not necessarily looking for her to score, but she can take the opportunities when they're there."
Munoz will usually draw the assignment of guarding the other team's top scorer.
On offense, the Cougars likely will be led by a couple of sophomores in Camille Flores and Marissa Servantes. Thissen says Flores is the closest thing they have to a pure shooter. She's already knocked down three 3-pointers in games twice this season.
"What Marissa lacks in height and bulk, she makes up for by being extremely quick and very aggressive, Thissen said.
The Cougars will be hard-pressed to match the athleticism of teams in Central California Conference play, but expect to see a team better adjusted to competing at the varsity level come January.
"We're always striving to improve, whether it's Game 1 or Game 27," he said. "Sometimes we have to simplify things a bit. Once we get a little more comfortable with what we're doing we'll add to what we're trying to do."
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by SHAWN JANSEN
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.