On the night of Jan. 30, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) girls basketball team took on St. Bonaventure High School (Bonnie) in the penultimate game of the season for both teams. Although the Dragons struck first and stayed within reach early on, Bonnie’s pace and pressure eventually pulled too far ahead, and Foothill Tech ended the night with a 30-71 loss.
“[We] played a little sloppy, it was a rough loss, but coming into [our second game against] St. Bonaventure, we just wanted to improve on where we were before, and I think we did that, even though we lost,” said Head Coach Chuck Ferris.
Annabella Baum ‘26 won the tip-off for the Dragons. She quickly searched for an opening, but the ball became exposed, and Bonnie pounced, pushing down the court. Jocelyn Morales ‘28 sprinted back to block the layup, then immediately turned defense into offense, racing the other way to score the first points of the game and give Foothill Tech its only lead.
Bonnies’ offense then came alive, erupting for 16 unanswered points while locking down defensively to keep the Dragons out of rhythm. A pass from Baum into the paint for Sofia Vega ‘26 finally broke the run and gave Foothill Tech a moment to regroup with the score at 4-16.
A drive from Baum and a three-pointer from Morales were the Dragons’ only other points of the first quarter, and the first period closed as St. Bonaventure held a 9-26 advantage.
Bonnie opened the second quarter with possession and immediately capitalized, scoring seven straight points to stretch the lead to 9-33. Morales answered with another three-pointer to try to spark a shift in momentum.
However, St. Bonaventure quickly regained control, sinking four consecutive shots while Foothill Tech went scoreless, pushing the halftime score to 12-40.
Foothill Tech opened the half with the ball and attacked aggressively, but a shot by Makenzie Gamble ‘26 was blocked, which led to a fast break by Bonnie and the first points of the half. A second layup followed after a Dragon turnover, and after Vega had a shot blocked, St. Bonaventure drilled a three-pointer to continue widening the gap.
Baum attempted to halt Bonnie’s momentum, driving into the paint to score Foothill Tech’s first points of the half with five minutes left in the quarter, making the score 16-56. St. Bonaventure responded immediately, stringing together eight more points as the third-quarter buzzer sounded with the Dragons trailing 16-64.
Although Morales, Baum, Vega and Smith all added points in the fourth quarter, the Dragons were unable to slow the dominant St. Bonaventure, and the final buzzer confirmed a 30-71 defeat.
“Hopefully, we get a shot at a playoff run this year. We will have to play better than we played tonight, but I think we can do that if we put our minds to it,” Coach Ferris said.
“There’s always room for improvement…we need to work on getting back on defense, there were just too many open layups tonight, we also need to get better at handling and protecting the ball,” Baum said.
The California Interscolastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Preliminaries for girls’ basketball will begin on Feb. 12.
