Last week the basketball season came to a halt for CESJDS when all three high school teams lost their semifinal games. However, the players learned teamwork, leadership, and much more from the season.

The varsity girls basketball team ended with an 11-5 record, despite having to recover from losing eight seniors since last year. While they struggled with communication and getting frantic after receiving the ball, they worked hard, had a lot of fun together and bonded as a team.

“We got really close to each other,” junior Hailey Weiss said. “Our communication was our biggest struggle on the court, and we really improved on that. We worked as a team instead of individually.”

Their semifinal game against Sandy Spring Friends School went into overtime and ended with many of the players in tears. The players were all sad to end an amazing season full of learning, bonding and improvement.

The varsity boys basketball team came into the season with a strong senior presence. Throughout the season their biggest struggle was limiting turnovers and finishing out plays. They wrapped up the regular season with a 12-4 record, and the players were able to learn leadership skills that could be applied on and off the court.

“I learned a lot about how to be a good leader from the seniors. I’m looking to hopefully [have a] more leadership role next year and how I can use what they’ve taught me to help the other players and the younger players on the team,” sophomore Jake Rulnick said.

The junior varsity boys basketball team learned about teamwork and enhanced their skills, ending with a 7-4 record. The team started the season with having missed a lot of their free throws and layups, and they spent the season working on it. They worked hard, and they saw improvements in games.

The season was marked with many accomplishments for all three teams including JDS winning a total of three out of four varsity games against the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy. The players walked out having understood what it means to be apart of a team.

“I’m really grateful for everything the seniors taught me,” Rulnick said. “It was a really special group, and I am lucky to have had the experience.”