Armijo basketball stars discuss season, one more big game

Four standouts and a senior team captain have let their play do the talking for the Armijo High girls basketball team this season.

With the Northern California Division I Tournament showdown in Concord against highly-ranked Carondolet set Thursday at 7 p.m., the five Indians spoke for themselves before Wednesday's practice.

Marshanique Hall, Chloe Dawkins, Justice Robinson-Kroon, Melaya Gaines and Erica Bossett talked about their season, their success, pressure and facing Carondolet.

They speak here in five video interviews with Patch on Wednesday night.

After the interviews, the players began to focus on their next game.

“We haven’t had a chance to find out much about Carondolet,” head coach Christian Stoll said as he prepared for the team’s workout Wednesday evening. “We’re still recovering from the long trip and Tuesday’s game.”

The Indians held off Gunn High in Palo Alto in the first round with Hall’s two free throws making the difference in the final seconds.

Carondolet, one of the top 100 prep teams in the United States, poses a much bigger challenge for Armijo.

“We will have to play at our very best in this game,” Stoll said. “We aren’t a team that’s equipped to go out after one of the top 100 teams nationally. But, we’ll show up and we’ll play hard. We’ll give it all we’ve got.”

Stoll said there was time during Wednesday’s practice to try to address the challenge Cardondolet presents.

“They have a post player who is headed to Stanford University to play,” Stoll said. “So, we have be able to deal with her. We can make adjustments to our game in one practice. We prepared to play man-to-man and changed it up a little before we played Gunn. You always have to adjust to your opponent.”

The winner of the Armijo-Carondolet game advances to the Northern California semifinals.

“I’m not surprised to be where we are,” Stoll said. “We have talent. For a school this size, it doesn’t take a long time to turn things around. It has been a lot of hard work this season. But, it’s all been well worth it.”