With the fall semester coming to a close, the El Camino men’s and women’s basketball teams are just getting their seasons started.
Both team’s seasons start at the same time but their journeys to this point in the season have taken different turns thus far. The women’s team has stormed out to a 6-2 start while the men’s team has struggled to string wins together, currently holding a 2-7 record.
Some players believe the men’s team’s slow start should be attributed to their mentality.
“I think it’s just a lack of focus,” freshman guard Justin Reyes said. “The way we’ve been practicing and others things off the court don’t help either.”
The Warriors started their season off with three straight loses, but won two straight games thereafter against LA Trade Tech College and LA Valley College.
“We are still young, still improving,” sophomore forward Da’Koda Lacey said. “We need to finish off games though. We’ve left some games out on the table for the other team to take.”
Despite those back-to-back victories, the Warriors have proceeded to drop their last four games and currently are on the wrong end of a four-game losing streak.
“We need the whole team to buy in to what the coach is telling us,” freshman guard Justin Chambers said. “Teamwork is definitely something we’ve been lacking and has held us back a lot.”
While the men’s team has started off slow, the women’s team has stormed out of the gates with a 6-2 start to their season.
“The strength in this team comes twofold,” women’s coach Steve Shaw said. “Our depth has helped us go 10 players deep every game with major contributions coming from any of those players in every game we’ve played.”
The Warriors jumped out to a 6-0 start to the season but have lost two straight games, with their lone losses coming against West LA College and Irvine Valley College.
“I think we need to improve on our conditioning so we can come out the 2nd half better,” sophomore forward Kayla Bibb said. “We always want to play with more energy than before.”
With their two losses coming by a combined seven points, Coach Shaw is looking to improve in every aspect of the game.
“At this point of the year, its all about improving in every area,” Shaw said. “We’ve showed signs where even in our wins, we haven’t played 40 minutes of good basketball yet. We’ve played spurts of really good basketball and have shown that we can be a really good basketball team but if you want to be elite, you have to show a level of consistency throughout the game.”
Despite these last couple losses, the players are confident they can get back on the right track sooner rather then later.
“We have lots of talent all around our team,” sophomore guard Hunter Noa said. “All of our teammates can contribute with the skill and talent we have on the court.”
Next up for the men’s basketball team is their home opener this Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. against LA Pierce College.
Next up for the women’s basketball team is an away game this Thursday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. at Irvine Valley College against Barstow College.
