Argggh!

Pardon my pirate, but this was a heartbreaker. The girls dropped a very tough one to Kankakee Trinity Academy tonight, 33-30.

Last year, the girls lost to Kankakee 44-35, but were trailing at the end of three by seventeen. The girls were able to make up some ground in the fourth with KTA's best player on the bench. This year was quite different.

The girls seemed to have broken their habit of starting out very slowly, with this game being the second one in a row in which they started very strongly. Rachel was a rebounding machine right off, with six boards in the first quarter. She also scored the first point, from the free throw line. From there the girls went out to a 5-3 lead, but gave up the last four points of the quarter to trail, 7-5. The quarter was marked by Rachel's rebounds, a lot of turnovers, and some strange (and some deserved) traveling calls. KTA played a 1-2-2 or a 1-3-1 defense, but after some initial pressure at half court, they dropped off and played tight to the basket.

The second quarter was similar to the first, with KTA causing a lot turnovers and scoring some down low. The score was 17-9 before Cassidy hit a shot that bounced very high off the rim, rattled around for awhile and finally fell through as the half-time buzzer went off.

The third quarter was remarkable. The girls played frenetic defense, Kara made some shots in the lane, Becca made a shot, and Lee hit a three. Kara and Lee were getting some steals, Kara by playing the passing lanes and Lee by sneaking up and taking the ball away. The girls outsccored KTA 13-4 in the quarter and led 24-21 at the end of three. The Patriot supporters were very excited, anticipating a possible second victory of the season.

The open of the fourth quarter did nothing to douse the hopes. The Patriots scored four of the first six points in the quarter and led 28-23. Then KTA went to an intense full court press, which we had trouble with, especially along the sidelines. The girls also seemed to continue to be somewhat flustered even when they crossed half-court. The result was a lot of turnovers and nine straight points for KTA. After scoring to pull within two, the teams exchanged turnovers until Rachel committed her fifth foul. The hosts made one of two free throws, then cranked up the full court press which resulted in another turnover for the Patriots, and KTA was then able to run out the clock.

All in all, a very exciting game, one which really showed the improvement of the girls' play and confidence.

Kara led in scoring with 16, Rachel had five, Becca had four, Lee had three and Cassidy had two. Rachel had 12 rebounds and Becca had 11. Kara had three assists and five steals; Lee also had five steals. Rachel led with three blocked shots. I counted 23 turnovers; I probably missed some.

Luther East on Thursday at 5:30. The first one with them was wild; hopefully this one will be wild and successful. See you there.