Jaedyn O’Reilly, Sophie Gerber emerge as leaders for Desert Mountain
For the Desert Mountain Wolves girls’ basketball team, the season may have just begun, but there are already two clear leaders on the court. Jaedyn O’Reilly and Sophie Gerber have wasted no time stepping into the leadership position and taking…
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Continue ReadingFor the Desert Mountain Wolves girls’ basketball team, the season may have just begun, but there are already two clear leaders on the court. Jaedyn O’Reilly and Sophie Gerber have wasted no time stepping into the leadership position and taking control of the team on the court.
At the Hoop Hall Classic, O’Reilly and Gerber absolutely tore up the court in the Wolves 55-16 route of the Arcadia Titans. Together, the duo combined for 30 of the team’s total points. They also were largely responsible for the team’s defensive attack and forced a handful of turnovers on the night.
Coach Alicia Sanchez said that it’s been an adjustment getting to this point and that it was a rough start to the season, mostly because the team is so new. As the season continues to progress, she fully expects them to continue growing and gaining that team chemistry that makes things work, but she says that O’Reilly and Gerber will be the centerpiece of it.
“To see them grow and kind of take control and leadership over the team has been pretty rewarding to see. They still have their kinks, but they lead by example, they lead with their voices and they’re really great players.” Coach Sanchez said.
“We have a really new team, so we are still working with them, but I’m glad I get to be a captain. I get to lead them. I feel like both Sophie and I know what’s right. We’re good leaders and we can help them do what’s right,” O’Reilly said.
For O’Reilly had 12 points for Desert Mountain on the night. She was pleased with the team’s defensive attack on the night and said it’s really something they’ve been focusing on in practice. Hustling for the ball and forcing a deflection or getting the steal is something that O’Reilly says Coach Sanchez really drills into them about every single day.
“If I’m doing my best and I know I’m hustling a lot, I know I’m making her proud, and that motivates me to work hard,” O’Reilly said.
O’Reilly knows that teamwork is what makes the dream work, so that’s what she’s looking forward to improving on the most as the season continues.
“We’re all good individually. We can do our own stuff, but when we come together, I feel like we can do very good things. I feel like as the season progresses, we’re going to get a lot better and we’re going to be beating teams by a lot more and it’s just going to look a lot nicer,” O’Reilly said.
Meanwhile for Gerber, she had 18 points of the night. Her performance was enough to earn her the coveted Hoop Hall Classic MVP game ball. She has a unique preparation tactic that seems to work for her. Gerber says before every game, she goes into the gym in the morning and works on her shooting to get ready for the game. But even with the success she’s having this year, she knows there are still a lot of areas of her game that she’d like to improve on.
“Defensively, I need to step up and be more active on defense. I’m still working on that, and just being aware offensively of where I am on the court.”
Coach Sanchez said she’s looking forward to seeing the seniors grow in their overall confidence as the season continues to unfold.
“They’re so hard on themselves, they want to do well every single game. They’re pretty much perfectionists. I just want them to kind of relax, play the game, have fun and enjoy their last year as high school basketball players,” Sanchez said.
Desert Mountain will look to close out the rest of 2019 strong with its remaining three games before the winter break rolls around. They’ll take on Gilbert on December 5th, Williams Field on December 12th and Notre Dame Prep on December 13th. Look for Gerber and O’Reilly to lead the Wolves’ attack in these upcoming games.