GILROY—There’s a new coach at the helm of the Christopher girl’s basketball program, but the philosophy of the team and its goals remain the same.
Danny Rodriguez was hired to take over the Cougars just before school let out in June and has been working with them ever since. He was in the running to take over the boys program—which also has a new coach this season—but opted for the girls instead, knowing they have a chance to do big things.
“The girls are ready to win now,” Rodriguez, who had been an assistant for the boys squad the past four years said.
He’s taking over for Heather Stewart, who left for an assistant position with the Gavilan women’s team, but said he’s keeping her philosophies in tact. Her emphasis on the athletes being students first and giving back to the community will be prominent again this year, Rodriguez said, as will the support between the boys and girls teams.
“On and off the court, we’re supporting each other. These kids that made the basketball team, they can do something that the other 3,000 or whatever number of kids there are on campus can’t do and they want to do,” he said. “It’s not easy to put that little round ball in the hoop.”
Christopher went 13-12 overall last season and made it to the second round of the Central Coast Section playoffs before falling to Los Gatos. Though its lost key players such as Cydney Caradonna and Dejah Raoof, it’s won’t be lacking veteran talent. Ally Foster and Christa Arroyo have been on varsity for three years and Rodriguez said he’s looking to them to take ownership of the team this year.
“(I told them) it’s your team and they’re going to look at you to be the floor general in practice and in games,” he said of senior forward Foster and junior guard Arroyo.
Senior point guard Teresa Guerra is also returning and Rodriguez said he has no doubts she’ll be a First Team All-League player. Though he has big expectations for her, he’s confident she’ll fill the role and be able to handle the pressure.
In addition to the returners, the Cougars have a slew of freshmen and sophomores joining the team who are competing for starting roles. There isn’t expected to be any drop off between rotations either as Christopher’s roster looks strong from top to bottom.
“As a coaching staff, our biggest challenge plain and simple is we don’t have enough ball to go around for everybody,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll take that problem any day of the week and that’s the only problem I want to have.”
But that’s not to say the team is perfect.
Having played in summer ball sessions, Guerra said it’s clear the team needs to improve its communication on defense and strengthen its execution on offense. All of the new faces have created some growing pains, but the senior said her team is starting to gel and is creating good team chemistry.
“I’m expecting a lot. If we all work together this year we can get a banner and go deep into CCS,” Guerra said. “I think as a team we all feel stronger. We have good chemistry and he (Rodriguez) connects with us really well.”
While the 5-9 Foster will provide height at forward, the Cougars won’t have much of it otherwise. This means they will be playing small ball and will look to everyone to share ball-handling responsibilities.
“If you can handle the ball, you can handle pressure,” Rodriguez said. “If you can handle pressure, you can play at this level.”
The girls open their season at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 against Leland at home. But the game that Christopher has circled on its schedule is the league opener at 7 p.m. Jan. 8 against North Salinas at home. The Vikings are ranked No. 1 in the preseason, while the Cougars are No. 5. Rodriguez said this gives his team the chance to make a statement right out of the gate.
“We just have to prepare for it,” Guerra said. “They hit them with a trap last year and we just have to react to it this year. We just have to get our offense better and have everybody dribbling so we can all break the press together.”
Christopher has set the bar high for itself, with season goals of a league championship as well as earning a home CCS playoff game. Anything less, Rodriguez said, is unacceptable given what he knows his team is capable of.
“The character of the team is what’s going to allow us to win league,” he said. “Our character is stronger than our talent. When you put those things together, forget it. The sky is the limit.”
