Nicole Reich ’17

The girls’ varsity basketball team had their ups and downs during the regular season en route to an overall record of 10-12, earning the 5th seed in Section 2 of the Maryland 4A North Region. The Warriors’ first playoff game is against Baltimore’s Mergenthaler High School on March 27.

“We will try to start off with the intensity we had in the second half of the last two games. We can’t slack on defense and need to make sure we share the ball efficiently,” commented junior Sammy Sundell. “We won’t have two of our starters for the first game so we will need some players to step up and fill those positions.” With senior Bryse Thornwell and senior Allie Thorn  likely to miss Saturday’s game because of college visits, the team’s new goal for the first round game is to, “survive and advance,” added Coach Tim Hobbs.

After multiple cancellations because of weather, practicing regularly became difficult in the last month. “The biggest challenge for the team throughout the season was developing the confidence needed to be a consistent basketball team game in and game out,” said Hobbs.

The team proved their toughness in recent games that were neck and neck with close scores from the start of the clock to the final buzzer. Against Magruder on February 17, the Warriors lost 54-45. Thanks to junior Kiana Robinson as the team’s defensive sparkplug, the team was given the opportunity to fight back with every turnover. The next day the Warriors took the court battling Clarksburg for the 68-59 win. Junior Amanda Allen led the way with 27 points and Thornwell chipped in 13 points. After two challenging games, the team faced Walter Johnson on February 19 and kept the winning streak going by a score of 60-53, with Allen pouring in 29 points. Sundell gave the team consistent rebounds. In the last game of the season the Warriors lost to Wootton 54-48. Sophomore Madison Bliss and Freshman Caroline Bidwick have proven themselves as important pieces.

Now with the season over, the Warriors are focused on the playoffs. “This year I tried to step up and be more of a leader to help the team,” said Allen who recently was  featured in The Washington Post.  “From the beginning, our goal was to be the best as a team by the end of the season and I think that is showing. We have to carry it with us to playoffs.”