Wednesday, January 25, the girl’s basketball team held their Senior Night game against Moorpark High School. The event started at 6:30 p.m. with a walkthrough of the varsity seniors, Captain Sophia Ramirez, Captain Andrea Munoz, Captain Elena Ferrara, Kely Reyes, Evanka Marselin, Julia Tellez, Julisa Lopez, and the team manager Martha Rodriguez. Along with walking through a balloon arch and a row of cheerleaders with their families, each girl had the opportunity to write a small speech about their time on the court.

The game eventually started at 7 p.m. with only varsity on the court. Within the first quarter, the girls had a score of 9-8, with Royal in the lead. During their break, varsity cheer performed a small routine followed by some music playing.  

At the end of the first half the girls had a total of 23-30, making leading shots in the last few seconds. Following this, there was another small cheer routine and the varsity dance came onto the court and did a performance to the famous song by Drake, “Rich Flex”. 

During the entire game, the girls had a significant advantage playing Captain Elena Ferrara who made multiple shots. However, even with this lead, the Moorpark girls were not giving up and even fell to the floor fighting for the ball. The third quarter ended with the girls staying ahead with 35-30 and celebrating with another cheer performance. 

The game’s final quarter was the most intense with multiple penalty shots from both sides. Royal scored one of two penalty shots, and Moorpark scored both of theirs. In the last 20 seconds of the game, Ferrara made a shot increasing the score to 46. 

With only 1.2 seconds left, Ferrara scored another shot bumping to score 48, but as the timer changed to 2.5 Moorpark got the ball and fortunately missed. To prevent the Highlanders from an evening out the score, Moorpark used a recurring tactic to get hold of the ball in the last seconds and keep it on their side of the court.

The game went into overtime (of 4 minutes) since the teams ended the game in a tie of 48. #34 was able to score two penalty shots that made the score 50. Although it was a tough battle to get the ball, #4 was able to retrieve it and pass it to #12, Julisa Lopez, who made the shot. With 1.1 seconds left in the game, Ferrara got the ball and shot, missed, but was assisted by #11, Ramirez who caught the ball and was able to shoot it flawlessly, but the point was not counted. Making the score 54-55. Unfortunately, when there was so little time left in the game and all the pressure in the world, the last penalty shot was missed, and Moorpark was able to get ahold of the ball, and while dribbling it to their side of the court, the game ended. 

Moorpark won with only one point ahead, but the girls were still victorious in their sportsmanship and the effort they put not only into this game but all others this season. 

Captains Munoz, Ferrara, and Ramirez are extremely proud of their team and all the effort the girls have put forward into their games and can’t wait to see how the next seasons will turn out. Speaking on the game and season, Ramirez said, “I feel like the game was very bittersweet. With it being senior night, it’s sad to think about having to leave this team once the season is over because I love being a part of this program. I feel like we came out determined to make this game one that our seniors would be proud of when looking back on it. I’m so proud of all of my teammates and I love that they really stepped up when it was needed. It was a good matchup for us and even though we lost, I thought it was a really fun and intense game of basketball knowing that we all put up a strong fight.”