The girls’ middle school basketball team was excited to play Wednesday afternoon as eighth-grader Selma Teichman tipped off for their final home game of the season which resulted in a 22-9 win for the Lions. Coming off a win at home, the team was looking for a win against their rival from the Field School.
The Lions set up in a zone defense and started the game strong with a turnover by seventh-grader Selina Bricker. Immediately after, during their next defensive possession, a missed pass by Field allowed the Lions to regain possession of the ball.
“I want to make sure that they’re active in terms of closing out on their defensive assignments and then making sure that they’re rebounding and turning and getting a good outlet,” head coach Brett Kugler said.
Halfway through the first quarter, eighth-grader Allison Fellner assisted eighth-grader Hili Dayan for a fastbreak layup, scoring their first points of the game.
“[Offensively] I think we had a lot of really good opportunities and as we learn and grow we’ll see that cutter earlier on that pass up and it’s going to lead to a lot of easy layups,” Kugler said.
Near the end of the first quarter, the Lions switched to play a press defense which resulted in a steal by Bricker. On the counterattack, Dayan hit a shot off the backboard to end the quarter, bringing the score to 4-0.
During the second quarter, the Lions kept their dominance defensively, creating many turnovers on the defensive side, but struggled to set up their plays on offense. However, the Lion’s offense gradually picked Field’s defense apart with Teichman making a layup to end the first half, making it 12-2 Lions.
“I think our team did really well this time looking up while dribbling way more and communicating more today,” sixth-grader Ella Jeweler said.
The Lions started where they left off in the second half strong on defense and found opportunities on offense to score. Sixth-grader Kayla Judah hit a jump shot from midrange in the middle of the third quarter, keeping the Lion’s morale strong.
The Falcons responded by making a jump shot off of an inbound play to make the score 14-4, but Judah came back with the same shot in for the Lions.
“We did a good job on [our] breakaways,” Judah said. “Not double dribbling, especially making sure once you have the ball to slow down.”
The fourth quarter was filled with points from both sides. Fellner started by scoring a put-back bucket followed by Teichman scoring a jump shot from the free-throw line. The Falcons attempted to push back with a made free throw but it was too late. Sixth-grader Adelle Elgrably scored the last points of the game, securing a win for the Lions.
“We have a lot of players who have potential and we’re a young team,” Kugler said. “[It’s important to get] them out there and [make] sure that they have the opportunities to be successful and [feel] confident on the court.”
