Chaparral Women Notch First Basketball Win at Home

In the Chaparrals’ fourth home appearance, the women’s basketball team secured their first win of the season under head coach Abby Talley.

Michael Martinez

Claire Valenti, Sports Writer
November 21, 2022

Through consistent defensive rebounds and fast-paced passes, COD’s women’s basketball team rallied for their first win of the season 68-57. The Chaparrals claimed victory in front of the home crowd against the Wilbur Wright College Rams, raising their record to 1-5.

“[The team] has been due for a win,” head women’s basketball coach Abby Talley said. “They have been in every single game, giving it their full effort, and this time we finally closed it. They definitely deserved this, and it was definitely time for them to pull one off.”

Talley became the head coach this May, making this her first win with the team; she hopes this victory is just the first of many throughout the season.

“I’m positive this was exactly what we needed to get the ball rolling,” Talley said. “I’m happy that it was a group effort; I played 11 girls from my 12-girl bench so this was a good one.”

Freshman guard Sierra Gibson scored 14 points with seven total rebounds. She also earned three assists and four steals. (Michael Martinez)

Sophomore forward Katlyn Allen earned a double-double with 12 points and 10 total rebounds, three offensive and seven defensive. She made eight of 10 attempted free throws and also earned four steals and one block.

“I changed up my routine a little bit because I was in practice and I was missing,” Allen said. “[Once] I changed my routine, I started knocking them down. I stayed a little bit after practice yesterday just to make sure I got those extra reps in, and today [the shots] went down.”

“I’ve been playing for so long, it’s just fun playing basketball all the time,” sophomore guard Mykah Berkompas said. “I’ll always just give it my all because it’s all I can do in the 40 minutes that we play.” (Michael Martinez)

Scoring seven 2-pointers and one 3-pointer with six of six free throws made, sophomore guard Mykah Berkompas earned 23 points, which is the most she’s earned in a game so far this season.

“Obviously the points aren’t everything,” Berkompas said. “The past two games, I’ve been guarded really heavily; I made the extra effort to make sure my teammates were also getting open, and that we played together as a team. The points will come, but that’s not the whole point of the game; we really played for each other today, and we knew we needed this win.”

The Chaparrals will look for their first road win against the Malcolm X College Hawks at 5 p.m. on Nov. 22 at Malcolm X College.