Varsity Girls Basketball played Stony Point on their home court on Tuesday, Dec. 11. While the game started off close, the Tigers pulled ahead ending the game at the score 26-46.
“Even though the game didn’t end the way we wanted, I was really proud of how we all played,” senior captain Juliette Cronin said. “Throughout the whole game we kept our energy high and played with all we had.”
Seconds into the game, senior Sonya Chalil, played aggressive defense on the full-court press causing turnovers for the Tigers. While the first points scored was a three pointer made by Stony Point, the Lady Mavs quickly got the ball back and made a free-throw after getting fouled on a fast break layup. The score was tied 5-5 halfway through the first quarter as a result of the Lady Mavs consistency on defense and passing offense. Shortly after, the Stony Point Tigers pulled ahead, ending the quarter 7-12 after making a few shots in the paint.
“I feel like we always have really good defense and that’s kind of just a key part of every game we play,” Chalil said. “Our team is really good at picking up the pace when we really need to. A lot of times we will be down by 20 and then we quickly go to a five point difference in the game.”
Even with the Lady Mavs continuous hard effort on defense, the Tigers height played a role in the increasing gap in the score. Throughout the second quarter, while the Lady Mavs battled, Stony Point kept rebounding the ball offensively and defensively. This resulted in a stagnant score for the Lady Mavs. The Mavericks went into the second half with the score 9-23 against the Tigers.
“Even with our good defense, a key part of our game that we can definitely improve on is our offense,” Cronin said. “I think mainly our shooting needs to get a little better.”
Less than five minutes into the third quarter, juniors Tierra Green and Alahna Lerma both got steals against the Tigers helping the Lady Mavs rack up their score to 13. This quarter was more evenly matched when sophomore Sadie Reid started getting both offensive and defensive rebounds. But as the Tigers kept making their shots, the gap in the score continued to increase. This never seemed to stop the Lady Mavs’ energy and in the last few minutes of the game, the Lady Mavs stepped up their game and made an 8-0 run. Even with the Mavericks fighting until the end, the game ended 26-46.
“One thing that might throw off the other teams about us is that we will always fight until the end,” Chalil said. “No matter if we are winning or losing, we are going to end the game with the exact same energy we started with.”
The Mavericks will head to Vandergrift for their next game, to play against the Vipers on Dec.13.
