For three quarters, the Lions and the McLean Mustangs battled up and down the court, trading baskets and steals. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the winner of the game would be decided, with a 36-25 Mustang victory.
The Lions faced up against the Mustangs on Jan. 15, at home. The ball was tossed between the two starting players at 4:30 pm.
Seconds into the first quarter, McLean scored two points, putting them in the lead. The first quarter continued slowly after that, with a lot of steals as well as missed shots, which meant a lot of back and forth action. Freshman Selma Teichman made a free throw, the first basket for the Lions.
After the game, Teichman thought the team for the most part was able to showcase their skill, but still had room for improvement. She connected some of the slowness in the quarter to passes and rebounds.
“I think we had to, me included, box out more around the basket and go for rebounds,” Teichman said. “But otherwise I think we did pretty well.”
The Lions still scored more shots throughout the rest of the quarter, with the first quarter ending 10-7 with the Mustangs in the lead.
The Mustangs started with the ball in the second quarter. After some plays, including blocks and steals by the defense of both teams, freshman Kira Koplow scored two points, one of the only baskets made that quarter.
The only other scorer from the Lions that quarter was freshman Brooke Walker, the highest scoring player by the end of the game. Walker was proud of the team’s ability to work together, and hoped that they can use the loss to improve in the future.
“We [had] a really good effort,” Walker said. “After beating Berman, I think this is the closest we have ever gotten to really beating another team.”
After a long and relatively low scoring second quarter, the score ended 12-11, with the Mustangs still in the lead.
In the third quarter, the Mustangs again started with the ball, and the pace picked up. The Lions scored 10 points in rapid succession, forcing their way into a large lead. Teichman and freshman Abby Feffer scored the final four of these 10 points.
After this period of the Lions dominating the scoreboard, the Mustangs finally broke their scoring drought, and climbed their way up near the Lions, with seven points. The final score for the quarter was 21-19, with the Lions in the lead.
The final quarter started once again with the Mustangs starting possession. In this final quarter, the Mustangs scored two three pointers, five two point baskets, and one free throw, making it the highest scoring quarter of the entire game by either team.
Co-head coach Maya Schantz was proud of her team for their plays and the amount of skill they showed, and was impressed with their ability to act as one. She noted where the team could do better, pointing out that they should work on passes. But she repeatedly stated that the team couldn’t have made her more proud, as they gave a great effort, and that’s what she believes matters most at the end of the day.
“We have to work on staying in the game.” Schantz said. “We started off really strong, really focused, and it kind of dwindled in the second half, so really just trying to keep that energy up and our spirits up.”