Weston Ranch girls Varsity basketball said goodbye and thank you to their Seniors on February 8. After a beautiful pregame ceremony, the Cougars took the court and battled Kimball High School. The three seniors playing for the final time at Weston Ranch were great examples of a proud program.

The Prowl asked head coach Damion McMiller to write about his seniors. What follows is McMiller’s tribute to each of these terrific student-athletes who displayed heart, courage, and joy playing the game each of them loves.

Ida Farsund

This year, Ida came to our school as a foreign exchange student and has been a great teammate. She would do her all on the court and was always a fan favorite once she got onto the court! A memorable moment was when we played at Chavez High School in Stockton. Ida fought for a loose ball, and the crowd went wild because the next play down, she made a shot to put us up and stay ahead to win that game.

Brianna Velasquez

Bri is a true fighter. She has played since her Frosh year and suffered an injury that would sideline her for a while towards the end of our season. However, I kept asking her to come out for the team, and she did this season. Bri is the “keep the peace teammate” who doesn’t have to say much but has a lot to say when she is asked. Bri will have some big choices to make at the end of the year, for she has two scholarship offers. One is local with the University of Pacific, and the other is the University of Montana. I know this young lady will make the right choice for herself. I hope she stays local and helps out the program in the future.

Vuntanique Brown

To see this young lady grow as a person and a player has been a joy. My memorable moment of Nique was when we played at Manteca high this year, watching the JV game. And one of our players needed to hear from her big Varsity sister. So Nique went down from her seat in the stands and told Coach Ish, “I got her. You can finish coaching your game.” I was so impressed. This is why my coach and I do this for these kids to see them reach out and help each other. I believe in this saying, “Reach ONE Teach ONE” by Ernie Bass. I’m proud to say Nique has a lot of options to play basketball next season at local JC and National JC.

McMiller added, “Hopefully, all these young ladies will come back and speak to the girls in the program about what they got from it, how it helps them, and what they are doing now. And this goes from ANY GIRL PLAYERS THAT HAVE EVERY PUT ON THAT VARSITY COUGAR JERSEY.”