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Whittell girls b-ball beats Maxwell, notches first win

Anthony Gentile
agentile@tahoedailytribune.com
Whittell guard Samantha Forvilly, pictured above in the team’s season-opening loss at North Tahoe, scored a team-high 10 points for the Warriors in their 41-21 over Maxwell at the John Holland Classic Thursday night.
Courtesy Boyd Dangtongdee |

GREENVILLE, Calif. — The Whittell girls basketball team bounced back from a season-opening defeat to notch its first win of the season Thursday night. The Warriors beat Maxwell (Calif.) 41-21 in its opener at the John Holland Classic held at Greenville High.

“We improved from our first game — we changed up a few things and we kind of cleaned up a little bit,” Warriors head coach Tom Esposito said. “They were pretty pleased with this game, and we have to see what happens in the rest of the tournament.”

Whittell (1-1) used defense to deliver its first victory. After allowing 47 points to North Tahoe in its season opener two days earlier, the Warriors turned up the intensity to stifle the Panthers on Thursday night.



“We improved our defense, and it showed that that is going to help us down the road,” Esposito said. “In the North Tahoe game, our defense was weak — we got split, we opened up and never got squared up.”

Guard Samantha Forvilly led Whittell with 10 points against Maxwell. Guard Gisselle Benitez scored eight, guard Daria Sharon finished with seven, center Jordyn Becker had six and guard Ali Copsy added four as part of a balanced effort.



“It was pretty balanced — we’re going to be pretty well-rounded scoringwise,” Esposito said.

In the Warriors’ six-point season-opening loss at North Tahoe, guard Kelsey Kjer scored 12 points, Sharon had 11 and Forvilly finished with 10. It was the first meeting between the teams in two seasons.

“We weren’t really happy about our North Tahoe performance,” Esposito said. “We should have had that game but we let that one go.”

Whittell continued play in the John Holland Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Warriors make their home debut Tuesday against Incline at 6 p.m. to open the Whittell Tournament.


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