Going way back to a 39-25 loss for the JV girl’s team against the Northwest Jaguars on Jan. 10, the team looked for improvement. But, they just did not get that wish. The Patriots only won two games throughout the entire season.
The Patriots were having some issues with their coach and as the season continued, these issues were continuing to get worse. Certain things happened that resulted in their coach resigning, and he will not be continuing next year. This required varsity coach Maggie Dyer to take control of both the junior varsity and varsity girls’ basketball programs. It was a lot to handle for Dyer to be in charge of both programs, so she looked for help. Teachers Kearney Blandamer and Lesley Stroot were willing to lend a helping hand. The sisters used to be field hockey coaches here, when the field hockey team went to the state championships.
On Jan. 16, the Patriots travelled to Springbrook to play against the Blue Devils. The Patriots did come away from the game winning, which resulted in their second and final win of the season. Toward the end of the game, the score was getting pretty close, but with the thought of winning in their mind, the Patriots persevered, and continued to play their best.
Then on Jan. 19, the Patriots were on the road again when they travelled to Gaithersburg to fight off the Trojans. Gaithersburg had a physical team, which was a little too much too handle for the Patriots. The Patriots got dominated in this game, and the running clock came into play when the Trojans went up by more than 35 in the second half.
Up next for the Patriots was another tough team, the Richard Montgomery Rockets. This was the second meeting between the two teams. It was a close game for the entire time, with the Rockets winning 34-23. The Patriots were happy with they way that they played in this game, as they only lost by 11 points to a strong team.
The Patriots came back home to play against the Wheaton Gladiators on Jan. 26. With Wheaton usually being one of the less skilled teams in the county, the Patriots were hoping to get another win out of this game. Their hopes were quickly shattered when the Gladiators went up early in the first quarter, leaving the Patriots behind for the entire game. The Patriots tried to play together as a team with all hopes of winning the game, but they fell short.
For the second time this season, the Patriots faced the Clarksburg Coyotes. Instead of playing on the road, the Coyotes visited the Patriots this time. The Coyotes pulled away early from the Patriots, making it tough for the Patriots to catch up to them. In their second to last game of the season, the Patriots lost 52-22.
The final game of the season for the Patriots was against the Quince Orchard Cougars. Dyer took lead of this game for the Patriots, giving tons of ideas for them to execute. Whether it be a play that she felt was good to be run in a certain point in the game, or just telling them to not foul because they had too many fouls already, the team listened to everything that she had to say. The Patriots lost this game, 61-16, a tough way to end a season. “We had a really good season overall and we improved a lot. Because of this, we all became really close friends,” sophomore Sabrina Shah said.
Through ups and downs this season, with their coach, and a lot of injuries, the team came together as one, and realized that while they wanted to win their games, what they really wanted even more was to learn new skills and have fun while they were doing so.
“The season started out rough, but by the end we had become such a close team and showed a huge improvement. I had so much fun,” freshman Leah Starr said.
All players showed a ton of improvement since the first day of practice, which is what a junior varsity team should bring out of a player. “Our record doesn’t mean much because we all had so much fun as a team and together we all improved so much from our first scrimmage to our final game,” freshman Maya Erd said.
Jill Geline
Senior Sports Editor
