By Vincent Liu

If there was ever such a thing called a good loss, the Los Altos High girls basketball team came close to having one.

After a season-opening win, the Eagles lost their six consecutive non-league game at the hands of visiting American from Fremont, 52-48, on Dec. 18. But unlike its previous five losses when it was unable to pull out of cold spells, Los Altos kept its poise and took the match right down to the wire before succumbing.

Three times in the second half America threatened to stretch its lead to double digits, and each time Los Altos battled back to stay within striking distance. With five minutes left in the game and her team trailing by nine points, Jennifer Herrera took over. After sinking a pair of free throws off a technical on America’s coach, the senior guard dished out assists for consecutive layups and drove the lane for another basket.

Herrera’s heroics pulled her team to within three, but Los Altos got no closer as America hit five of six free throws down the stretch to close out the contest. Herrera finished the night with 11 points, three assists, eight rebounds and four steals, all team highs.

With all but one of its players no taller than 5-foot-9, Los Altos battled American evenly on the board and received strong inside plays from forwards Alyce Jorgensen, Emily Reid and Lindsey Stephens.

The trio contributed 10, 10 and 7 points, respectively. Jorgensen also pulled down seven rebounds.

Stephens came on strong in the second half during which she tallied all her points including her team’s only three-pointer. Her stint was cut short by an inadvertent elbow to her nose, which drew blood and retired her for the night.

American opened the game with eight straight points, but the Eagles hung tough and proceeded to out-score their opposition 20-14 to trail by only two at half time. It was this type of comeback plus those in the second half that pleased Vern Hubbard, first-year head coach.

Before the game, Hubbard felt that his team needs to be mentally tougher and not give in so quickly when things don’t go well. He felt after the game that meaningful progress in that direction was made. “This is our best game for a while,” he said, “and this time my players hung together for a whole game.”

Hubbard is the school’s second new girls basketball head coach in two years. After serving as an assistant last year, he was elevated to the top slot following the departure of former NBA player Ron Williams, last year’s head coach.

While staying with the general offensive scheme introduced by his predecessor, Hubbard has made one significant change this year: He cut down the number of set plays from last year’s 15. “That’s just too many for the girls,” he said.

While satisfied by his team’s play against the 8-2 American, he was nevertheless frustrated by the losing streak. “We need a win, man,” he said. “We can’t seem to get over the hump.”

Scoring by Quarters

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

American 13 9 19 11 52

Los Altos 12 8 14 14 48

Los Altos Scoring: Herrera 3-5-11; Jorgensen 3-4-10; Reid 4-2-10; Stephens 3-0-7; Plank 1-2-4; Lam 1-2-4; Schaefer 1-0-2. Totals 16-15-48. Three-point goal: Stephens.