St. Robert's 7th-Grade Girls Basketball Wins League Championship

San Bruno Patch caught up with Rob Lapuyade and Laura Davis, the head coach and assistant coach respectively, and some of the players of seventh-grade championship basketball team for a Q&A about their championship season.

St. Robert's School is part of the North South Peninsula Parochial Schools League, which comprises 16 teams from South San Francisco to Menlo Park. Winning back-to-back championships, the girls basketball team is one of the best girls teams St. Robert's has ever had, the coaches said. They had an undefeated league record of 10-0 and had an overall season record of 21-4.

Daniel Beckman: What brought this team all the way to the championship game, and ultimately the win?

Laura Davis: Coach to win for one. Rob constantly knows what our competition's about. We never go into a game without knowing what that is. Preparing for that and creating a game plan is key.

Rob Lapuyade: Yeah, we've been with these girls since fourth grade. They are in seventh now, so we have had them for a long time. They're a good team and they're battle-tested. We play a lot of games, enter a lot of tournaments. We also play against the boys as much as we can.

DB: How do you prepare for a game?

RL: We do  a lot of fundamentals—passing, shooting, drills. But when there is game coming up, we bring some boys in from the seventh-grade basketball teams, which are all excellent. Playing against the seventh-grade boys team really helps the girls get ready for the competition.

LD: Another thing that works well is competition between the girls—they love it. We throw in drills that are time-sensitive, like how many shots they can make in a certain amount of minutes, how many layups they can make in a certain amount of minutes, and they love that. They love that challenge. Otherwise, you're just running the same old boring plays and they'll just walk through it and won't feel motivated.

DB: What hurdles did you have to overcome this season in order to become champions?

LD: The kind of hurdles any team has. You've got your really good players and your weaker players helping the weaker player hone certain skills. And with your stronger players, making sure they know they're not the only ones on the court, and they have a team. For the most part, we didn't see any major hurdles.

DB: Which players on the team stepped up and brought a little something extra this season?

RL: Sara O'Halleron is one of the best defensive players in the county. Our point guard Alexandera Shiffer is phenomenal, possibly one of the best point guards in the county. Lindsey Fontenot is a great defender and ball handler. Ixcalli Galindo is an excellent power forward—second-leading rebounder, third-leading scorer. Caitlin Schick scored the winning basket in the championship game. Katia Ajam has excellent defense. Paige Dickson is another excellent defender, and Lauren Lapuyade is an excellent rebounder. But it was a team effort for sure.

DB: If you guys had an anthem what would it be?

Lauren Lapuyade, player: Uh, hmm. That "Champions" song. "We Are the Champions."

DB: "We Are the Champions" by Queen?

LL: Yes.

DB: Who is your role model and what made you want to play basketball?

LL: My father. We live and breath basketball at home. We have watched it and played it my whole life.