The varsity girls basketball team began its season with a scrimmage against Aptos High School today at Blackford.

The desk did not formally count the score for the entire game, instead resetting the score at the end of each of five periods. The girls trailed Aptos in each period, with scores of 8-13, 5-22, 11-25, 0-16 and 7-14.

Due to the informal nature of the game, many players saw it as an opportunity to practice and recognize areas to improve in.

“Since this is a scrimmage, it was more just getting our nerves out and practicing and implementing our plays and our defense,” Prameela Kottapalli (10) said. “It was a really good opportunity for to just get out there and play and work hard and see what we need to work on for our first actual game which is next week.”

Head coach Tomas Thompson saw strengths in his team’s play, but also potential for improvement.

“I think early in the game we were attacking the basket and doing some good things on offense,” he said. “I think we have a lot of things to work on on defense, especially help-side off the ball, and definitely blocking out because we don’t have a lot of size on our team, but we’re quick so we just know that we have to play a really fast style and we need to make sure that we’re a lot more physical and more vocal.”

Thompson also recognized the effect of the team’s offseason training on their performance in today’s game.

“I think that we played really physical which is a big part of the offseason weightlifting training program we have at Harker,” he said.

Team manager Kunal Bhandarkar summed up his thoughts about the game.

“It was a good effort. They played as a team and showed potential for the upcoming season,” he said.

The team next plays in their first formal game against Greenfield High School away next Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.