Championship feaver

By Cheryl Ho
Sports Editor

“I think this group has the potential to win the league,” says Willie LaNere, head coach of the girls’ basketball team. “We still have to prove it, but I think we could do it.”

With all five starters returning from a team that finished second in North Coast Sectional playoffs a year ago, it is only fitting that the Hercules Middle/High School girls’ basketball squad should expect such success.

The Lady Titans enter their sixth year of existence fresh off the heels of a 2006-2007 campaign that saw them finish the year with a 22-8 record and a post-season run all the way to the Division III NCS Championship Game and into the first round of state playoffs.

As the situation reveals, however, this spurt into the playoffs ended with two consecutive losses that seemingly dampen an overall successful year for the Titans.

“I wasn’t happy how we ended,” adds LaNere, “but it was something that had to happen.”

All mistakes and defeats aside, the Lady Titans dove into their current season Nov. 29 with a 65-52 victory against Ursuline and a 54-38 win the following night against Notre Dame-Belmont.

Senior Courtney Oliver led all players with 24 points in the first match.

Yet the varsity squad’s two-game win streak in the Drake Tournament was broken after a 44-43 loss to Albany in the tournament’s championship game, which featured a 13-point effort from 6-foot-1 center Mariah Davis.

“We should have won that game,” adds Davis. “If anything, we didn’t play together as a team.”

The girls then began play in the Walnut Creek Classic Dec. 12, where they faced a Castlemont team and left with a hard-fought 69-67 victory in double overtime.

“It was a tough and competitive game, but we finally played as a team,” says Oliver. “I’m just happy we won.”

In the tournament's second game, they routed an experienced Acalanes squad 71-44. Junior Valerie Poquiz finished with 16 points.

Leading the 5-1 Titans is the exact starting group from a year ago, with Davis and seniors Janelle Rucobo and Kiara Lewis in the front court, and 5-foot-5 Oliver and 5-foot-2 Poquiz at the guard positions.

Aside from the starters, there lies a string of key reserves who round out Hercules’ balanced attack, including guards Melissa Poquiz and Khala Finley, forward Jannielle Espinosa and center Rebecca van Kuyk.

With only five games under their belt, two freshmen have already proven to be reliable sources of not only scoring, but defense and rebounding as well.

One such source is 6-foot-1 center Chalese Davis, sister of Mariah Davis, who totaled seven rebounds and nine points in the first game against Ursuline, and led the Titans with 18 in their win against Acalanes.

Another pleasant surprise is 5-foot-6 guard Brittany Boyd, who has the speed and defensive capabilities to outwork any opponent. In the second game of the season, she finished with a team-high 17 points.

“Brittany and Chalese are really good assets to our team,” adds 5-foot-2 Valerie Poquiz, a junior. “Even though they have a lot of talent, it’s going to take time to develop chemistry. Once that happens, we should be one of the most dominant teams in the Bay Area.”

The Lady Titans look to test this possible dominance once they tip off Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League play Jan. 8 against Berkeley High, the reigning league champs.

Not shying away from the talent strewn throughout the 11-member roster, senior Mariah Davis anticipates a successful drive through ACCAL competition and expects Berkeley to remain one of their toughest opponents.

“Berkeley has a good team this year, I don’t know if they’re better than last year’s, but they a solid team. They should be our only challenge this year – everybody else, we should beat them.”

If the Lady Titans can utilize their experience, talent and poise, a league crown will become more than a distant reality and the possibility of rewriting Hercules High record books, again, will thus be a forthcoming result.