Season Opener Brings Victory to Amundsen High School

The Amundsen girls basketball team was nervous for their first game of the season, scoring just three points in the first quarter. But another 27 points in three quarters led to a 30-20 victory at home over Roosevelt High School.

(See more photos from the game on our Facebook page.)

“The girls had first-game jitters,” coach Maggie O’Gara said. “We have a lot of newcomers that started this year.”

One newcomer, sophomore Wakeda Carr, made her varsity debut on Wednesday. Carr scored a team-high eight points for the night, filling in for senior center Dyamond Bland, who was out for the game.

“The first day of tryouts we were extremely impressed with her,” O’Gara said. “She’s such a hardworking kid everyday in practice and she listens well.”

Junior guard Shannel Rodriguez also had eight points with five assists and 10 steals. Seniors Celeste Wiese and Amber Otero both had five points.

After Amundsen led by one point at the half, Roosevelt came out in a press to start the third quarter. The Vikings gave up the lead for a few minutes, but quickly recovered, outscoring Roosevelt 13-7 in the second half.

“It was the first time we’ve seen a press. We haven’t had it in practice yet, but because we had Amber and Shannel, they knew how to attack,” O’Gara said.

The coach said she was proud of her team’s performance in their first game, especially their team play and communication.

The Vikings go on the road against Foreman Nov. 21 for their second game.