There is only one undefeated and untied team in the Valley for Winter Sports – Great Oak junior varsity girls basketball. Great Oak boys varsity soccer is 9-0-1.

The Lady Wolfpack are 5-0 in Southwestern League play and 14-0 overall. They are averaging 51 points per game with an average margin of victory of 23 points. They have scored 67 points in a game and their largest margin of victory is 47. They held one team to four points.

Coach Sadiki Ellis attributes the high level of performance and achievement to the fact that "all the ladies love the game and want to be the best they can possibly be." Ellis’ philosophy is "to make the game easy by playing fundamentally sound on both ends of the court." He is looking to develop "A.C.E." players – players with a winning team attitude; players with a total commitment to get better and positively contribute to the team; and players with maximum effort every minute they are on the court, whether in practice or a game.

They spend a lot of time working on individual skills in order to be successful in the Great Oak offense.

"Our plays are called to put players in a position to be effective; if the players don’t have the necessary individual skills, they can’t be as effective," says Ellis.

Defensively, "we stress to be great individually on the ball and smart as a team off the ball."

Their closest games have been against Temecula Valley, winning 44-41 in the opening game of the Murrieta Valley Holiday Classic on Nov. 27, 2012, and then 41-37 on Jan. 19 in the first round of league play.

In the most recent matchup, Temecula Valley – whose only loss this season was to Great Oak – led 10-4 at the end of the first quarter and 22-12 at halftime. They hit four 2’s and a 3 in the second quarter while holding Great Oak to two field goals and two free throws.

"The ball went in for us the first half," said Temecula Valley Coach Joe Weinmann.

But Lea Adame hit a three from the corner on an inbounds play to start off a Wolfpack 14-5 run in the third quarter. Great Oak’s 2-2-1 press proved effective as did their change in offensive strategy to get the ball inside to utilize their height advantage. Adame’s shot at the buzzer put Great Oak within one point 27-26.

Despite tremendous play by TV’s Ruby Estrada and Olivia Brown, Great Oak finished the game with a 15-10 quarter to secure the come-from-behind win. Samantha Gonzalez hit three shots and Breanna Baldi contributed two more baskets and a free throw in the final period. Adame ended with 11 points for the game.

Gonzalez is the Wolfpack’s leading scorer, averaging 12 points per game. Great Oak’s starting five averages seven points each.

The Wolfpack JV team is at home this week against Murrieta Mesa and Murrieta Valley. Next week, they travel to Vista Murrieta, Jan. 30, and Chaparral, Feb. 1, before meeting up with Temecula Valley again on Jan. 25. If they win out, they will be 19-0.