Caption: Senior Player Number 26 seizes the opportunity to score a three pointer in the first minutes of the game. [by Dr. Cristina Meier]
by Oliver Hsieh
The first varsity basketball game of the season took place on August 18, 2026, in which the PACA Warriors faced the Graded Eagles. As it was a home game, the stands were buzzing with excitement for the PACA Warriors and included students, alumni and family members of the basketball players.
Before the game, the PACA cheerleaders welcomed the crowd and were present to cheer for both teams’ games. At the prompting of the cheerleaders, fans from the crowd made a tunnel for the basketball players to run through at the side entrance to the basketball court area. This has been a much anticipated tradition for the PACA Warriors. They always do this routine to start a basketball home game.
Valentina Dallalana, a grade 12 student at PACA, is a team captain for the Girls Varsity basketball team. This is her sixth year playing basketball on a PACA team. Dallalana shared her anticipation for the game and her expectations for their performance.
“I am extremely excited and looking forward to playing this game, since it’s our first game,” said Dallalana. ”I feel like our team has evolved and is connected in a way that makes playing so much easier and fun. My expectations are that we could bring home the victory and truly play as a team, always glorifying the Lord in our every move.”
The Varsity girls’ started off the evening with a strong first quarter, taking the opportunities to score points for the team as the Graded Eagles struggled to keep up with their offensive moves. During the first quarter, Junior Isabela Silva scored a two pointer after a good layup.
PACA maintained their lead and at halftime it was 16-0 for the Warriors. After halftime PACA continued dominating the score board and only let two points slip until the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, PACA’s offensive players fouled the Graded girls. Since they were unable to make their two free throw shots, PACA got the rebound and scored a basket. Graded players were able to score some more points in that final quarter, but not enough to make a significant comeback.
As the game was dwindling down to the final minutes the crowd cheered for the PACA Warriors, along with the cheerleaders, as they won their first game of the season and the game ended with a solid score of 28:6 for the Warriors. This score was an advantage for the Warriors because it made the Warriors worry less about the points of the game.
After the game, Dallalana shares how she is proud of her fellow teammates and how they played during the game.
“I am overwhelmed by how much all the girls played this game. It felt like we all poured our hearts into the game, which was portrayed by the end results,” said Dallalana. “I feel like we are heading forward and there are still places we can all grow as a team.I am very proud of every single one of the basketball girls.”
As PACA celebrated the girls’ first win, Phillip Emmanuel, who is captain of the Varsity Boys basketball team, explained how he prepared himself and his teammates for their upcoming game. One key element was his confidence about the game before it began.
“I can speak for the whole team when I say that we are very confident and hyped up for this game,” said Emmanuel.
As the game started the boys ran through the tunnel of people cheering them on with excitement for the game that follows.
The game started with a brilliant three pointer from senior starter Ben Hatcher, and he celebrated, within moments of his basket, with the iconic three finger gesture.
After this Warrior score, Graded came back with a two pointer, and then were fouled a few minutes later. They landed one of their free throw baskets which equalized the score a few minutes later.
![Senior JP Tartoni preparing himself for the shot as his team waits on the offence. [by Samuel Di Lopes.]](https://pacawarriorpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/YEA180826DILOPES277-683x1024.jpg)
Caption: Senior JP Tartoni preparing himself for the shot as his team waits on the offense. [by Samuel Di Lopes.]
A few moments after this, the PACA team was fouled and had the opportunity to take the lead but unfortunately they missed both free throw shots.
The Graded Eagles took advantage of the chance and scored a 2 pointer, taking the lead with a 5-3 score. In the final minutes of the first quarter, Micah Greve, a freshman, scored the two pointer to take the lead at the end of the first quarter. This would be the only time that PACA would be ahead of Graded for the rest of the game.
The second through fourth quarters showed a loss of advantage for PACA as the Eagles slowly gained momentum against the Warriors. There were lots of opportunities for PACA players throughout the game, with the score of 16-18 at half time with Graded barely having the advantage.
The third quarter was also a very close match up between the teams, but Graded started taking the lead and scored 31-23 in their favor.
In the fourth quarter, PACA was not able to come back from the gap in points. In the final minutes, the Eagles were able to win with the final score of 35-25. In reflecting on the final moments of the game, Emmanuel talked about the disappointing loss for the Warriors and his expectations for the next game.
“The result wasn’t what we wanted, but we played well,” said Emmanuel. “I think we will have a better game, we’ll be training and fixing mistakes from the first game.”
Both games brought excitement to the Warriors, and even though both results were not what we wanted they were two very good games with lots of good plays being made.
