12/18/2017

King City girls basketball



 A year into turning the Mustangs fortunes around, Frank Padilla was told he was not going to be back the following season as the head girls basketball coach
 It had nothing to do with the teams performance, or his coaching skills. Instead, an on-campus teacher wanted the job last season.
 "I wasn't happy about it,'' Padilla said. "I didn't like it. I thought things were working out well. I'm an alumni. I put in the time in the off-season. It hurt a little bit.''
 So did the program. For the first time in seven years, Padilla wasn't a part of the King City foundation. Expectations weren't met as it struggled to an 11-14 overall mark.
 "There is no reason that team shouldn't have won league last year,'' Padilla said. "But it did win a playoff game. So that's something to build off of.''
 A year after being reduced to a spectator, Padilla was asked to return this winter for the Mustangs. He's put any animosity aside.
 "My heart is still in it to coach,'' Padilla said. "I like the game. I felt I had built it back up. I figured being away for a year, we can pick up where we left off.''
 That quite hasn't worked out as he'd hoped. With a new crop of players, growing pains have been evident during the preseason for King City.
 "It's been a struggle,'' said Padilla, a 1980 former quarterback and point guard for King City. "Taking a year off has taken more of a toll than I thought it would.''
 In some respects, Padilla is starting all over from the ground up. With the exception of two players, it's a new cast for him to work with.
 "We're still trying to put the pieces together,'' Padilla said. "We are still trying to find ourselves. We'll just keeping pushing through. It's a confident group.''
 Before Padilla had taken the head coaching job in 2016, the Mustangs -- a perennial playoff team for 30 plus years -- had missed the postseason two straight years.
 In his first season as the head coach, he took a seven win team from the previous year and doubled that win total with 14, going 11-3 in the Mission Trail Athletic League.
 Ironically King City started 1-4 that year, the exact same record it had five games into this season.
 "We're just having trouble putting the game together right now,'' Padilla said. "We are tinkering with stuff, throwing different plays at them.''
 It's not like King City has faced creampuffs. Its first five non-league opponents have a combined record of 21-4 -- including a team it beat. 
 Padilla will build his team around three-year starter Megan Flores, who was with him two years ago along with senior Mikayla Davis.
 Flores is averaging nearly 13 points a game for King City, while 5-foot-11 Delaney Carroll is providing a presence in the paint, chasing double-doubles each night.
 "We've got an inside presence with the ability to push the ball and shoot,'' Padilla said. "We believe we'll find our stride by league play.''
 Nancy Andrade has provided another scoring option for the Mustangs in non-league play while point guard Alyssa Richardson is running the offense.
 "I'm trying to convince Alyssa to shoot more,'' Padilla said. "She has a nice touch on the outside.''
 The Mustangs will also be home for the holidays. Five of their first six games have been on the road this season.
 "We will eventually find ourselves,'' Padilla said. "The good thing is these kids know how good we can be. It's nice to be back. I missed it.''


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