2003 PREVIEW: GIRLS' BASKETBALL: PARACLETE HAS DEEP PLAYOFF RUN IN MIND.Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer LANCASTER - It wasn't supposed to happen that way. After dominating Delphic League play, the Paraclete High girls' basketball team's run ended abruptly a·brupt adj. 1. Unexpectedly sudden: an abrupt change in the weather. 2. Surprisingly curt; brusque: an abrupt answer made in anger. 3. last season when the Spirits were upset by Carpinteria on a buzzer-beater in the opening round of the Southern Section Div. IV-AA playoffs. The memories of that loss remain fresh in the minds of Paraclete players, who are determined to use it as a motivational tool this season. ``It makes us want it more,'' sophomore guard/forward Bria Fields said. ``Going out by one point like we did last year makes us all want to go farther into the playoffs. ``We're hoping for the Pyramid pyramid, structure pyramid. The true pyramid exists only in Egypt, though the term has also been applied to similar structures in other countries. Egyptian pyramids are square in plan and their triangular sides, which directly face the points of the (in Long Beach, the site of this season's state championship), so we're just working hard to try to get better.'' The good news for Paraclete is that it returns virtually its entire team. The Spirits graduated just one player and return 10 from a team that went 10-0 in league (17-4 overall), including Fields, the league's co-MVP. Other key returnees include senior post player Karina Worden and sophomore guard Jessica Echenique (both all-league selections), senior guard Nikki Cordova Cordova, Spain: see Córdoba. and junior post player Michelle Borquez. Senior guards Winnie Borzage, Tayler Wilson and Stephanie Gonzalez, junior post player Sarah Watts Sarah Lyons Watts (born 1942) is a history professor at Wake Forest University and author of Rough Rider in the White House: Theodore Roosevelt and the Politics of Desire. and junior guard Sarah Stipanovic also have significant varsity experience. Newcomer Brittney Evans, a sophomore guard/forward, also will see significant playing time. ``We're hoping that (experience) will be our strength this year,'' said Paraclete coach Steve Echenique, Jessica's father. The Spirits also are counting on what Steve Echenique said is a far more challenging nonleague schedule to better prepare the team for what it hopes will be a deeper playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. run. Paraclete's nonleague opponents include large-enrollment schools Quartz Hill and Highland. The Spirits also will face tough competition at the St. Bonaventure tournament later this month in Ventura. So far, Paraclete has struggled in nonleague play, going 1-4. However, a significant factor in the team's slow start is a knee injury that has sidelined Fields and a flu bug that has kept several players out of the lineup A criminal investigation technique in which the police arrange a number of individuals in a row before a witness to a crime and ask the witness to identify which, if any, of the individuals committed the crime. . Fields, who originally suffered the injury while playing summer-league ball, hasn't played since the team's season opener against Tehachapi. She already underwent an MRI 1. (application) MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2. MRI - Measurement Requirements and Interface. , which she said yielded inconclusive INCONCLUSIVE. What does not put an end to a thing. Inconclusive presumptions are those which may be overcome by opposing proof; for example, the law presumes that he who possesses personal property is the owner of it, but evidence is allowed to contradict this presumption, and show who is results, and plans to get a second opinion from another doctor later this month. Assuming Fields returns to the team at close to full strength, Paraclete, despite its youth, will be an overwhelming favorite to repeat as league champion, a position that brings with it newfound new·found adj. Recently discovered: a newfound pastime. Adj. 1. newfound - newly discovered; "his newfound aggressiveness"; "Hudson pointed his ship down the coast of the newfound sea" pressure. ``Last year we just kind of went out and played,'' Worden said. ``This year we have expectations we have to live up to.'' Gideon Rubin (818) 713-3607 gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: All-league guard Jessica Echenique wants Paraclete to go further after an opening-round loss in the playoffs last season. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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