DUBLIN -- With 4 minutes to go in the game and the Wolfpack leading 7-0, Coach Mark took a gamble that didn’t pay off. He actually sat down the big three, Jillian, Hailey and Nikki, at the same time, which is the first time that has happened all season. It was obvious that these three girls were the engine that made the Wolfpack tick, and it became even more obvious when all three were not on the court. In under 3 minutes, the team from SM/SC tied the game at 7-7 and by the time Coach Mark put the three dynamos back in there, it was too late to shift the momentum and the Wolfpack had to settle for a tie. Although it was not a loss, it was the first time all year that the Wolfpack did not win and it didn’t taste very good.

The end of year party at Mountain Mikes helped ease the hurt, though. All the girls had fun and they definitely enjoyed the season.

Game scoring stats of 2/01/09 game:
Jillian Weber - 3 pts
Hailey Meyer - 2 pts
Nikki - 2 pts

Season scoring stats as of 2/01/09 (10 games)
Jillian Weber - 48 pts
Hailey Meyer - 25 pts
Nikki - 25 pts
Tess Molinar - 25 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 129 pts
Opponents total score - 63 pts

DUBLIN -- The undefeated St. Raymond Wolfpack continued their winning ways by easily defeating the SM/SC Hot Shots for the second time this season, this time by a score of 14-4. The scoring was spread out pretty evenly between Nikki (6 pts), Jillian Weber (4 pts) and Hailey Meyer (4 pts). This was not one of the Wolfpack’s best shooting games as they missed a very large percentage of their shots. On the other side of the ball, even though the Hot Shots only came away with 4 points, they actually had a very high shooting percentage. With the tough defense of Nikki, Jillian, Hailey and Amanda, the Hot Shots hardly got to take any shots.

At the end of the game, we finally got some pictures of the girls as a team. If you would like to download the full pictures, go to the Downloads section and grab them from there. They’re big (about 3Meg a piece), but if you’re wanting to print them out, they will be much better quality than trying to save the images on this page. Enjoy!

Game scoring stats of 1/25/09 game:
Nikki - 6 pts
Jillian Weber - 4 pts
Hailey Meyer - 4 pts

Season scoring stats as of 1/25/09 (9 games)
Jillian Weber - 45 pts
Tess Molinar - 25 pts
Hailey Meyer - 23 pts
Nikki - 23 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 122 pts
Opponents total score - 56 pts

LIVERMORE -- In a rematch of the first game of the season, the Wolfpack of St. Raymond traveled to Granada High School in Livermore to take on the SM/SC #4. Like that first game, the Wolfpack had their hands full with the tough SM/SC team and managed to eek out a 2-point win, this time 10-8. For the first time this season, the Wolfpack found themselves trailing in the 4th quarter. Jillian Weber made a clutch free throw to tie the game up and then with 30 seconds to go, Amanda Allman found the hot hand of Tess Molinar who managed to throw up a prayer even though she was blanketed by SM/SC defenders and rattled home the game winner.

Jillian Weber finished the game with 3 points and Tess Molinar put together her best shooting game with 7 points, 1 from the free throw line and three impressive shots from the field. The rest of the team played some tough defense and had to fight through some screens that the SM/SC were running.

The SM/SC team had no super stars, but they were well coached and they did a nice job of passing and setting screens to give their players a chance at getting open. They missed a number of wide open shots that could have changed the outcome of the game. The Wolfpack just missed their share of shots as well, so I would say that the score was indicative of the game, which was played without the Wolfpack’s top point guard Nikki.

This was the first time that the Wolfpack had to come from behind to win a game and it was exciting to see them do just that. With two games to go, St. Raymond has a record of 8-0 and is looking for an undefeated season.


Game scoring stats of 1/18/09 game:
Tess Molinar - 7 pts
Jillian Weber - 3 pts

Season scoring stats as of 1/18/09 (8 games)
Jillian Weber - 41 pts
Tess Molinar - 25 pts
Hailey Meyer - 19 pts
Nikki - 17 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 108 pts
Opponents total score - 52 pts

DUBLIN -- The Wolfpack came out like gangbusters in this game against the SM/SC #1. Hailey Meyer got the opening tipoff and brought the ball down and scored in the first 20 seconds. Before halftime, the Wolfpack had a 12-2 lead and completely outplayed the team from Livermore. The game was definitely a tale of two halves as the SM/SC team brought a new intensity in the second half and gave the Wolfpack a taste of their own medicine with some very aggressive defense. The Wolfpack were only able to score on a Jillian Weber fadeaway jumper in the second half, but their defense kept the SM/SC team to only two more baskets of their own. So, although the final score was 14-6, the game was played a lot more evenly than the score would indicate.

The scoring was evenly distributed this game, with Jillian, Nikki and Hailey all getting 4 points and Tess adding another 2 points.

After getting stuck in the corner a couple of times in a row, Hailey Meyer made the pass of the season. Sensing a double team coming upon her, Hailey, who was facing the baseline, quickly threw the ball over her head to a wide open Tess, who was then able to take a shot. I am pretty sure that this was not taught by Coach Mark and I don’t know if it should ever be used again, but it was quite an amazing pass that got lots of chuckles and cheers from the crowd. See the video here!

All in all, another good win by the Wolfpack. This was the last game against a new opponent. The last three games are against the three SM/SC teams that the Wolfpack played at the start of the season.

Game scoring stats of 1/11/09 game:
Jillian Weber - 4 pts
Nikki - 4 pts
Hailey Meyer - 4 pts
Tess Molinar - 2 pts

Season scoring stats as of 1/11/09 (7 games)
Jillian Weber - 38 pts
Hailey Meyer - 19 pts
Tess Molinar - 18 pts
Nikki - 17 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 98 pts
Opponents total score - 44 pts

PLEASANTON -- The Wolfpack hadn’t played a game for three weeks, but you wouldn’t have known it watching this game. They played their typically tough defense and made a relatively high percentage of their shots. Even though the CCOP team had the single best individual basketball player the Wolfpack had seen all year, the tough defense helped the Wolfpack come away with a 16-10 victory, despite that one player scoring all 10 points for her team.

Nikki once again started the scoring with one of her many steals and finished it up with a nice basket. About a minute later, Jillian intercepted a pass and brought the ball down and banked one in from the right side. Less than a minute later, Jillian intercepted an incoming pass and took the shot from the left side for her second basket of the game. In the first minute of the 2nd three minute quarter, Nikki was inbounding the ball, looked left then threw right to a wide open Hailey Meyer, who drained a 10 footer from the left side of the basket. Still in the first half, Tess Molinar cleaned up a miss by both Jillian Weber and Nikki for her first basket of the game. The CCOP star player made three baskets and two free throws in the first half, so the Wolfpack went into halftime with a 10-8 lead.

The second half was marked by more tough defense by the Wolfpack, especially the gutty play of Amanda Allman. Late in the third quarter, Jillian Weber got the ball about 18 feet from the basket and her coach yelled “Shoot it!”, which is something you usually don’t need to tell Jillian. Jillian obliged by stepping up and making a clean 17 footer from the right side for her 6th point of the game. Less than a minute later, Nikki came up with another of her steals and brought it all the way down and scored for her 4th point of the game. After the CCOP star made another shot to bring the game within 14-10, Tess Molinar stole the ball and outran the CCOP tired defenders and scored her 4th point to put the game out of reach. The Wolfpack defense was able to hold off the efforts of the CCOP star, who obviously was not used to losing, and held on for the 16-10 win.

Game scoring stats of 1/04/09 game:
Jillian Weber - 6 pts
Tess Molinar - 4 pts
Nikki - 4 pts
Hailey Meyer - 2 pts

Season scoring stats as of 1/04/09 (6 games)
Jillian Weber - 34 pts
Tess Molinar - 16 pts
Hailey Meyer - 15 pts
Nikki - 13 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 84 pts
Opponents total score - 38 pts

DUBLIN -- In a bit of deja vu, the St. Raymond Wolfpack used a stifling defense to hold St. Joan’s #2 to 4 points while racking up 14 of their own, which is the exact same score as last week’s Wolfpack victory. Although the score was 14-4, that doesn’t really tell the whole story. When looking at the number of shots taken, you can see how lopsided the game really was. St. Joan’s actually shot a pretty good percentage, making 2 out of 6 shots. Jillian Weber by herself took a staggering 27 shots. She only made 3 of them, though for a whopping 11% shooting percentage! Both Nikki and Hailey Meyer took multiple shots as well, so the Wolfpack easily outshot the team from St. Joan’s approximately 40-6, not counting the free throws.

This game also saw the Wolfpack take a total of 10 free throws. Nikki actually made the first one, so for a little bit the Wolfpack had made 5 of 6 free throws for the season. From that point on, though, all but one of the remaining free throws were missed, with Hailey Meyer making 1 of her 4. That makes the Wolfpack’s free throw shooting percentage go to a little more believable figure of 40% on the year (6 of 15).

Although the Wolfpack had a difficult time getting their shots to fall, they didn’t have any problem playing tenacious defense. As mentioned, the St. Joan’s team only managed to take 6 shots in the game and a couple of those were in the last seconds . Every single one of the Wolfpack played great defense, including both Gina Pletschet and Victoria Barraza who came up with a steal and then an assist to Jillian Weber. Jillian and Nikki each had double digit steals again and along with Hailey and Tess, basically harassed any St. Joan’s player that had the ball.

For the game, Jillian had 6 points (3 baskets, 2 from quite a distance), Nikki had 3 points (1 basket and 1 free throw), Hailey Meyer had 3 points (1 basket and 1 free throw) and Tess Molinar had 2 points (1 basket).

Just to put Jillian’s outrageous shot attempts in perspective, this evening in the NBA there were four games played. The closest player to Jillian’s 27 attempts was Kobe Bryant, who never met a shot he didn’t like, with 24 shots attempted. An NBA game is 48 minutes, while 3rd grade CYO is only 24 minutes. It was little wonder why Jillian was exhausted midway through the 4th quarter. I was tired just watching her heaving the ball up that many times.

Season scoring stats as of 12/14/08 (5 games)
Jillian Weber - 28 pts
Hailey Meyer - 13 pts
Tess Molinar - 12 pts
Nikki - 9 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 68 pts
Opponents total score - 28 pts

PLEASANTON, CA -- The St. Raymond Wolpack took on the CCOP #3 this afternoon at the Hart M.S. gymnasium. The Wolfpack used a swarming defense to hold the good passing CCOP to only two baskets the entire game, winning 14-4.

Nikki started out the game hot and got her first basket of the year within the first minute of the game. Another minute later, Nikki put back a near miss by Ava Walker for the second basket of the game. Nikki made another basket in the second half to finish with a total of 6 points. Jillian Weber made a basket of her own in the first half and then hit on a nice layup and a fantastic shot from the top of the key in the second half for her 6 points in the game. Tess Molinar rounded out the Wolfpack scoring with a shot in front of the basket off a nice pass from Nikki.

As good as the offense played, the story of the game was definitely the relentless defense of the Wolfpack, though. The CCOP team did a nice job of spreading out and passing the ball to the open girl, but as soon as the ball arrived, at least one, and usually two, Wolfpack players were right on top of her. One of the videos up in the Videos section shows just how well the Wolfpack played defense.

For the first time this year, a 3rd grade girl actually fouled out of a game. Due to her very aggressive defense, Nikki picked up her fifth foul in the fourth quarter. Nikki played a great game on both sides of the court, though, and by the time she had fouled out, the game was well in hand.

Jillian Weber has apparently built up a little fan club on the sidelines, as midway in the fourth quarter, Marco Pletschet (Gina’s little brother) came running out on the court to give Jillian a hug. The only problem was that this wasn’t during a time out, but rather right in the middle of the action. Luckily the referee blew the whistle quickly and no one got hurt and everyone could laugh about it once the game was over.

Season scoring stats as of 12/07/08 (4 games)
Jillian Weber - 22 pts
Tess Molinar - 10 pts
Hailey Meyer - 10 pts
Nikki - 6 pts
Maddie Taylor - 6 pts (guest player from other St. Raymond team)

Wolfpack total score - 54 pts
Opponents total score - 24 pts

LIVERMORE, CA -- The St. Raymond Wolfpack traveled to Granada High School to take on yet another SM/SC team. The SM/SC Thunderbolts seemed to be the strongest of the SM/SC teams the Wolfpack has faced so far. Although the Thunderbolts played a tough game, the Wolfpack came away with a 16-10 win.

The Wolfpack had a guest player from the other St. Raymond 3rd grade girls’ team, Maddie Taylor, since two of the top Wolfpack players (Hailey Meyer & Nikki) were missing from the game due to soccer commitments. Maddie was a welcome addition as she has the great ball handling and defensive skills of Nikki and the scoring ability of Hailey. Because the Thunderbolts employed a similar strategy, defensive wise, as the Wolfpack, with the double chasers ready to meet the point guard right at the half way line, it was really important for the Wolfpack to have a great ball handler to bring the ball past the defenders.

Early in the game, the Thunderbolts started the scoring with a layup that gave them a 2-0 lead, which was the only lead they had in the game. As in the other two previous games, Jillian Weber started the scoring for the Wolfpack by dribbling around the Thunderbolt defense and finished with a nice layup. A couple of minutes later, Tess Molinar was fouled in the act of shooting, so she got to take two free throws. After the game, Tess could be heard saying that she wasn’t expecting to make either of her free throws, but she rattled the first one in and hit nothing but net on the second shot. Tess also made a basket later in the first half, so she finished the game with 4 points. As a side note, the Wolfpack’s free throw percentage in the last two games is at an amazing 80% (4 of 5), which is better than all but four NBA teams.

Maddie Taylor came in halfway into the first half and took over the game with some nice ball handling and tough defense. Maddie scored six points, once off an offensive rebound, another from a pass from Jillian Weber, and her last one was from one of her steals that she finished with a layup that quieted the home crowd, which wasn’t used to seeing their team that far behind. Maddie’s six points were the difference in the game, so I think it is safe to say that the Wolfpack probably wouldn’t have won without Maddie’s help.

Speaking of tough defense, Jillian Weber didn’t have quite the number of steals this game as she did last week, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Jillian was very aggressive, maybe overly so, as she picked up four fouls in the game. After picking up her fourth foul late in the fourth quarter, and realizing that if she got five fouls she would be out of the game, Jillian went up to Coach Mark and said “Coach, take me out before they do!” In the second half, Jillian did make two more nice shots from the field, one from around the free throw line, which gave her six points for the game, so she did end up with more points than fouls.

DUBLIN, CA -- The St. Raymond Wolfpack played their second game of the season against another SM/SC team, this time at Dublin High. The Wolfpack played like their namesakes and used a very aggressive defense to come away with a 16-4 win over the SM/SC Hot Shots.

Just like the first game, Jillian Weber started the scoring by stealing the ball and finishing with a basket. This time, though, she almost completed a three point play. Jillian was fouled in the act of shooting and her free throw attempt just rimmed out. Jillian got another chance at the free throw line as she was fouled again and this time she was able to convert both of them. Jillian also scored on two more lay ups for a total of 8 points.

The other 8 points for the Wolfpack were scored by Hailey Meyer, who was able to make four shots of her own. Three of Hailey’s baskets were from assists from Tess Molinar, Jillian Weber, and Ava Walker. Between Jillian, Hailey and Nikki, the SM/SC team had a tough time making it much past the halfway line the entire first half. In fact, Jillian had an astonishing 17 steals all by herself in this game.

Coach Mark did show mercy and kept Nikki and Jillian out of the game for the last 6 minutes. In those final 6 minutes, many of the other Wolfpack got a chance to handle the ball and got some good experience. There were many good passes and even without Nikki and Jillian, the Wolfpack kept the defensive pressure on the Hot Shots.

LIVERMORE, CA -- The St. Raymond 3rd Grade CYO girls basketball team #2 (man, they’ve got to come up with a better name than that!) traveled to Granada High School in Livermore to face the St. Michael/St. Charles team #4. Being that this was the first game for team #2 as a team, no one knew exactly what to expect from them. Right from the beginning, it was obvious that the SM/SC team was going to have a difficult time taking a shot whenever Nikki was on the floor. Each time SM/SC brought the ball past the halfway line, Nikki was right there ready to take the ball away, and more often than not, Nikki ended up with the ball and was headed the other way with it. If Nikki could have converted just a few of her steals into baskets, the St. Raymond team would have won going away. As it was, the final score was 8-6, with St. Raymond holding on for the win.

Jillian Weber started the scoring with the first basket of the year after stealing the ball and taking it back up the court and using the backboard. Tess Molinar grabbed an offensive rebound of one of Nikki’s misses and one of her own and converted both of them for a total of 4 points and Hailey Meyer grabbed an offensive rebound of another one of Nikki’s misses and put it up and in to round out the scoring. There were no free throws attempted for either team and there were really very few jump balls considering this is 3rd grade girls basketball.

Whenever Nikki and Jillian were the chasers (the two guards), SM/SC very seldom got the ball to the key. Between the two of them, they had at least 20 steals. I made a montage video of 12 of Nikki’s steals and 8 of Jillian’s that you can watch in the videos section. I also got all four baskets plus a little footage of everyone except for Amanda, although you can see her in some of the videos.

I think I scared some of the parents after the game when I asked to take the girls’ pictures, but it was so that I could get their pictures for the roster on the website. I’m sorry, I should have explained what I was doing, but I was trying to go as fast as possible so I could get all the girls before they left. The only girl that I’m missing is Amanda, so I’ll have to get a picture of her after the next game.

I hope you all enjoy the videos and I hope to get some pictures of the girls up there soon as well.

Jim Weber
Jillian Weber’s dad