The Patriots battled at home against their rival, the Churchill Bulldogs on Dec. 15. The Patriots tried their hardest, but they just could not beat the Bulldogs. This game was low scoring, with a final score of 25-20. The little things such as ball handling, and missing simple layups caused the Patriots to be defeated by the Bulldogs.
Overall, the Patriots did not execute their plays properly, so they used the next morning, Dec. 16 to go over them before their next away game at Sherwood.
On Dec. 18, the Patriots travelled to Sherwood to play the Warriors. The gym was old, and warm, sticky, and smelled like sweat. Just like the previous game for the Patriots, this game did not go in their favor. The Patriots lost to the Warriors, 56-21. When a team goes up by 35 or more points, the game clock runs, except for when there are timeouts. This allows for the game to end faster, as one team is showing that they are the more dominant team in the game. This rule was exhibited in the game, when the Warriors went up by 35 points in the fourth quarter.
Up next for the Patriots were the Blake Bengals. The Patriots did not know what to expect from the Bengals, as the scores from the Bengals’ previous games were not updated onto the County Sports Zone website. This meant for the Patriots that they came into the game prepared for anything, but of course hoping to get a win.
Sure enough, the Patriots won the game in a dominating style. The final score of the game was 47-23, and the score reflected how well the Patriots played. “Our win against Blake was season-changing and we had a blast doing it. Part of basketball is winning, but the other part is having fun,” freshman Moira Rankin said.
It was a full team effort, starting from Coach Ozzie Smith, who called out the plays for his team to run, and then the players executing the plays properly. With the perfect executions of the plays, the team got easy layups, which were successfully finished during this game, making this game the first win for the Patriots, five games into the season. “I think we have gotten a lot better as a team and we will continue to exceed as the season continues,” sophomore Molly Gleicher said.
Over winter break, the Patriots did not participate in a holiday tournament like the varsity team did. The Patriots had the intention to do so, but they did not sign up in time.
Their next competition was against the Quince Orchard Cougars on the first day back from break, Jan. 2.
In the Wootton gymnasium, the Patriots battled against the Cougars, but were dominated through the entirety of the game. The Cougars went up 12-0 halfway through the first quarter, and then the Patriots went on a 4-0 run. This was the closest the game got, and the Patriots ended up losing 63-18. The running clock was in play for this game too, once the Cougars went up by 35 points.
Looking for improvement before their next game, the Patriots worked hard during their practice on Wednesday. There would have been practice on Thursday, but due to the snow day, practice was cancelled. The team travelled to Clarksburg on Jan. 5 to play against a strong Clarksburg team. With no practice on Thursday the Patriots could not prepare fully for this game and came up short 50-25. The Patriots learned from this game that teamwork is important and basketball is not an individual game. “Basketball has been very fun and exciting. The team has improved a lot and we are getting better each day and it has been a good season with them,” sophomore Sonali Tele said.
Next up for the Patriots were the visiting Northwest Jaguars on Jan. 10. The Patriots came into the game with the intention that they were going to come away with the win, but that sure was not true, when the Patriots fell to the Jaguars 39-25.
The Patriots played against the Richard Montgomery Rockets on Jan 12, too to be covered in this issue.
Jill Geline
Senior Sports Editor
