Before tipoff, head coach Daniza Rodriguez honored seniors Gemma Chan, Isabella Lo and Emily Mitnick, known to the team as “Gem,” “Izzy” and “Em.” Rodriguez shared pre-written messages from the seniors where they gave advice to their underclassmen and thanked their supporters. 

“All three of them have inspired me in many different ways,” center Sanika Das (10) said. “I met Emily first, and she’s inspired me academically and in basketball to be a better person. Izzy’s so inspirational on the court, how she always focuses, she always sticks to our plan. She encourages us and same with Gemma, she’s extremely encouraging and I’m going to miss them a lot.”

A player on the team also presented Isabella with a framed collage to congratulate her for scoring her 1000th point for Harker girls basketball earlier in the season. Afterwards, the entire team took a final group photo before warmups for the game began.

The Panthers scored an early layup, and guard Isabella responded with a pullup midrange jumper two minutes in that sent the crowd into cheers. Poor rotation defense from the Panthers and alert passing from the Eagles resulted in Isabella scoring two three-pointers, bringing the Eagles to an 8-2 lead with 3:03 remaining. Isabella put up three more points and dished an assist to center Emily to build a commanding 15-2 lead for the Eagles.

“As a team, our dynamic was really good today,” Sanika said. “We decided in this game to set up more into our plays, instead of simply going off of transition, and we found open looks with those plays and we were able to get many shots off.”

Harker started the second quarter with strong defense, with five forced turnovers in five minutes. The Eagles kept the Panthers scoreless for over six minutes while they built a 27-point lead of 29-2. 

Forward Finley Ho (10) ended a series of back-and-forth rebounding by both teams with a layup and sank a free throw on the next play. The Eagles maintained their lead 29-7 before the quarter ended.

Avoiding a repeat of the third quarter where the Eagles initially struggled on offense, Finley pulled up from a baseline drive for two and scooped in a left handed layup a minute later. She continued to contribute on offense, finding Emily on a mismatch for a right-handed hook shot that extended the Eagles’ lead to 46-11. 

The Eagles continued to space out Eastside’s defense by sinking three three-pointers in the last two minutes; this allowed Emily to get another layup in on a backdoor feed from point guard Jillian Chen (9). Jillian dribbled out the clock to end the game in a 57-15 Harker victory.

“I came into the game thinking, ‘We just have to do our job and play the best we can,’” Emily said. “This is a very full circle moment because we won our league championship my freshman year, and now again this year, so it’s a very special feeling to be able to contribute to the team and put us in a position where we can keep going in this season.”

Vincy Chan reflected on seeing her daughter Gemma play through her high school years with the team and the experience of watching one of her final home games.

“This year was very important for her,” Chan said. “She had a hard time at first, but this year’s been wonderful for her and the camaraderie amongst the team has had such a positive effect overall and has made her senior year. She started out freshman year playing with her sister on the team, and to see it all come to an end, it’s very bittersweet.”

The team sits at a record of 19-3 and holds the third seed spot in the California Coast Section Division IV Playoffs. They play Design Tech on Tuesday in the Zhang Athletic Center.