Capoot rebounds following tragedy

For the next eight games, Jamie Capoot led her team and the state, averaging 25 points per game.

DeBolt expected her to eventually finish at least one game with 40 or 50 points.

“Nobody could stop her,” DeBolt said. “She was fearless.”

But on Jan. 11, another setback struck Capoot and the Comets.

With nine minutes left in the first half of the game at Napa Valley College, Capoot’s season ended with a broken left fibula.

It happened right in front of DeBolt, who said he heard a snap, saw her fall to the ground and knew immediately what happened.

“This is surreal. How could this happen?” he asked himself.

But as Capoot moved to the trainer’s table to lie down, the Comets finished the half. They came back out in the second half and beat the Storm 50-46. It was the Comets’ second win of the season and the first game of the season Capoot did not lead her team in points and rebounds.

“I felt helpless for them,” Capoot said. “(But) I knew they could do it. My dad was right there with them and with me.”

Roberts said she felt the same motivation during the game.

“I’m doing this for Jamie,” she told herself. “If we don’t win, it’s not worth it.”

The Comets only won one more game the rest of the season and finished 3-19 overall, 2-10 in the Bay Valley Conference.

But the impression left by the Capoots will be the legacy of 2011-12 for the Comets.

The season will be remembered for Jamie Capoot’s unwavering effort despite losing her father, first coach and best friend. It will be remembered for the team bonding to lift one another through what could have been an abandoned season. It will be remembered for Jim Capoot.

Jamie Capoot, graduate of Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville, said she chose to transfer to Sonoma State in the North Bay Area, about an hour and a half from Vacaville, so she could remain close to her family and friends.

The criminal justice major said she probably will not become a cop, but will follow her father’s example.

The two blonds, Jim and Jamie, whose last name will always be mispronounced (the “t” is silent), will forever share a common bond on the hardwood and away from it.

“Yeah, I get it all the time. I love it,” Jamie Capoot said of comparisons to her father. “Me and my dad had a really strong bond. It’s the biggest compliment in the world.”