At the beginning of the 23/24 Basketball season Coach Vickie Carrington, entering her second season as head coach, made her hopes for the season known. She talked about rebuilding the Women’s Basketball program back to its historic success. It had been over a decade since the Eagles had a program that produced consistent results and winning seasons. This year’s team knew the challenge ahead of them as they brought together twelve players who wanted to take the next step in Coach Carrington’s journey.

As the team embarked on the journey, they were met with some tough early season challenges; injuries, a transfer player waiting to join them and some heavy hitter opponents. The Eagles battled hard but dropped their first four games. The Christmas holidays were a turning point as Jenny Stanion joined the team after the transfer period and Emma Morin returned as well. With a deeper bench and renewed spirit, the Eagles closed out the holiday season with a 5 and 3 run and began league play with a record of 5 wins and 7 losses. Throughout the year assistant coaches Diara Carrington and Tom Harman poured their love for the game, knowledge and coaching expertise into the girls helping them all achieve better results as they year went on. The team played hard, constantly improving and completed the regular season with a record of 15 and 12, finishing second in their league.

Entering the CIF Play-offs, the Eagles were seeded 6th in the San Diego Section Division 4 tournament. They opened with a win over The Cambridge School, bringing them to a rematch with Madison who had beaten the Eagles by seven points earlier in the season. The Eagles jumped out to a quick lead and held on to beat Madison with clutch shooting late in the game. Next up was second seed High Tech High, where the Eagles had some of their best offensive output of the year in route to a big win. In the Sectional finals the Eagles got a rematch with the League Champion Escondido White Tigers. Escondido had won the league by beating SFC twice during the season by one point and by 10 points. The game saw the White Tigers jump out to an early lead. The Eagles fought back and were down by four going in at half. In the third quarter the Eagles cut the lead to just 1. Early in the fourth quarter the Eagles took over the lead. Foul troubles hurt the Eagles later in the quarter and Escondido was able to post its third win of the season over SFC, 54 -44. Runners-up in the CIF Sectional play-offs was disappointing for the team but demonstrated a huge step forward for the program.

The 23/34 season had a lot of big plays and outstanding efforts throughout the year. Here is a quick look back at some of this team’s achievements.

· The Eagles finished with an 18 – 13 record overall and were 8 – 2 in league play finishing second in the Pacific league.

· The team finished the season ranked number 3 in San Diego Section Division 4. This was up six places from their 9th place ranking the year prior.

· Jennifer Stanion and Piper Lenihan were both names Women’s Athlete of the Week by the San Diego Union Tribune during the 23/24 season.

· Six players (half the team) scored their first Varsity points this season – Julia Wallace, Emma Morin, Ari Sit, Akemi Homna, Siena Porcelli and Therese Esmay

Seniors

· Dorcus Ndume provided the team spirit as a senior captain all year long. Returning late in the season from injury, she scored 6 points and had 17 rebounds in seven games.

· Julia Wallace played in 20 games for the Eagles in her first season of basketball. She provided a physical presence under the net and had 20 rebounds.

· Elizabeth Bickley contributed all season long with important minutes both offensively and defensively. For the season she had 35 points and 57 rebounds as she completed her first year as an Eagle.

Juniors

· Piper Lenihan led the team in scoring. She scored her 1000th point this season on her way to a 600-point season. She finished the year with 1,495 points scored in her career at SFC. Piper’s 77 three pointers ranked her number 1 in Division 4 for San Diego. Piper was also second in rebounding on the team with 207 rebounds and led the team in assists and steals with 93 and 149, respectively.

· Alesea Haynes scored 264 points this season, including her 500th point. Her defensive presence was felt throughout the season as she had 107 deflections and 54 steals.

Sophomores

· Jennifer Stanion sat out the first four games as a transfer player. But once she arrived, she had a big season with 23 Double Double games in the 27 she played. Her Double Double performance resulted in her being ranked # 35 Nationally, #13 in California, #3 in San Diego and #1 in San Diego Division 4 for this statistic. Jenny’s Double Double performance was driven by Rebounds and Points. This season Jenny led the team in rebounds with 371 and was second in points with 388. She also led the team in blocked shots with 54.

· Gianna Griffin had a strong sophomore season for the team. She was third in rebounds on the team with 126 for the season and added 33 points and 5 blocks.

· Emma Morin returned to the line up in late December bringing her positive energy from the bench to floor. Her hustle on the floor made her a great defensive presence. She scored her first varsity points and ended the season with 10 points and 28 rebounds.

Freshmen 

· Ari Sit had a superb freshman season. She was fourth on the team in scoring with 165 points playing in all 31 games. She also captured 90 rebounds and had 36 steals.

· Siena Porcelli started her basketball career with solid year on the boards. She was fourth on the team in rebounds with 106 and added 17 points in her first year.

· Akemi Homna scored ten points including her first varsity three pointer in her 10 early season appearances.

· Therese Esmay worked her way back from a bad pre-season injury and was able to play in three games this season gaining her first two varsity points from the free throw line.

The 24/25 Eagles will be returning 9 players and are poised for a good season. With players like this year's team managers, Jaedyn Davis and Ava Robbins coming up next year to add to the mix, the Women's Varsity basketball team looks ready to complete the rebuild.