BVNW drops season-opener against Mill Valley in overtime, 39-44

The girls varsity basketball team was defeated in overtime by Mill Valley, 39-44. Senior Abby Bird was BVNW’s leading scorer, with 11 points.

Ben Brown and Gabe Swartz

In the first girls varsity basketball game of the season, BVNW opened the season with an overtime loss to Mill Valley, 39-44.

The three Husky seniors; Abby Bird, Raegan Phillips and Taylor Victorine totaled 27 of the 39 points, with Victorine contributing nine points. Victorine said she was excited to get back on the court this season.

“It was really exciting,” Victorine said. “It was hard because we lost our biggest player last year, but I thought we came out and did a great job.”

A cold-shooting first half for the Huskies had them trailing 21-29 at the half. Head coach Brian Bubalo said despite the poor shooting, he was proud of the girls’ effort.

“[I was] very happy with the effort throughout the game,” Bubalo said. “We played much smarter in the second half and made a nice run to get back in the game early in the third quarter, and then we battled until we finally got the lead.”

Victorine said the ability to battle in spite of their disadvantage of size against the Jaguars was a promising sign for the rest of the year.

“[The comeback] was promising knowing that we have a small team,” Victorine said. “It shows that we will be able to come back during the [remainder of the] season when we have trouble.”

Bubalo said he thought the team needed to get to the free throw line more, but one of the differences in the game was the Huskies missed opportunities in the paint.

“We probably didn’t shoot enough free throws,” Bubalo said. “…When you’re playing against a bigger team like that, it’s going to be hard to shoot well but we still have to do better, we missed some shots that I think we’ll normally make.”