With a 5-6 record in the middle of their season, the girls varsity basketball team continues to learn valuable lessons that will lead them to finish the season strong in their last 11 games. Putting a lot of emphasis on just trying to get 1% better everyday, they focus on the short-term goals. The team is led by Co-Captain Aashni Patel and Co-captain Liv Stevens.
Head Coach Quinn O’Brien is eager to see some of his adjustments play out during the second half of the season. “I think as a group we are starting to hit our stride,” Coach O’Brien said. “It will be great to see how we play against some strong Founder’s League opponents in the second half.”
Leading up to the annual KIT tournament, the girls faced Choate Rosemary Hall. A resilient effort that ended in a loss was the perfect fuel needed to motivate a team going into the most notable tournament of the year. “Going into the fourth quarter of the game, we were down by a lot so all we tried to focus on was just winning the quarter,” sophomore guard Olivia Pilecki said. By winning the quarter, the Wyverns went into the preliminary rounds of the KIT on a high note.
On Friday, Dec. 15 the team dominated in the first night of the highly anticipated Frosty “Francis” Kingswood Invitation tournament, beating Hyde 72-30 in front of a rowdy home crowd. “Our ball movement really helped us separate early,” senior guard Co-captain Aashni Patel said. “As always, being able to play in front of the annual KIT crowd adds to the excitement and energy of the building.”
During the second round of the tournament, the team clashed with Holderness School, one of the toughest opponents they have faced. Early on the Wyvern’s schemes were hijacked by the quickness of the Holderness point guards. But the girls stayed in it, only being down 12 points at halftime, but on this day, KO could not contain the Holderness offense.
Moving past the KITs, each player and coach learned something new, but something that they all learned was that if they wanted to win more games, their defense would have to be more consistent. “Defense is the most fundamental part of our game, it is a lot of the time the reason for why we win or lose a game,” Assistant Coach Judy Bailey said.
On Wednesday, Jan. 17, the girls tipped off against Miss Porters. The team had strong scoring that was led by sophomore guard Samaria Gonzalez, but the Porters team was unrelenting. Going into the second half down by 11, the coaches knew something had to change to get the Wyverns back in it.
“During halftime, we just felt that we were not focusing enough on defense,” Coach Bailey said. “I think that’s been a real focal point for us, because we know our shots will fall, but we’ve got to make sure our defense is on target from the moment the game starts to the end.” In the end, the girls fell 64-53.
The team rallied after this tough loss beating Watkinson, last year’s NEPSAC Class D champions, 59-37 led by the efforts of Pilecki with 17 points and Gonzalez with 14.
Next, the girls took on a talented Hotchkiss team, falling 61-37. The team was led by the efforts of Gonzalez and junior guard Reagan Heafey-De Angelis with 11 and seven points respectively.
In their most recent game, the girls took on St. Mark’s. After a close game last year, with a final score of 63-60 in St. Mark’s favor, the team spent the week at practice working on defensive rotations to prepare for the matchup. The team dominated, winning 64-50, led by Gonzalez with 25 points and Pilecki with 15.
To start off this February, the girls take on Cheshire Academy on Friday, Feb. 2, and Greenwich Country Day on Saturday, Feb. 3. We wish them the best of luck in the upcoming games ahead!
