The JV Girls basketball team played their first league game on Thursday against Linden Christian. The team was looking forward to having the opportunity to play, but were a little nervous about playing their first game against the powerhouse team from Linden. The nerves were evident in this game, as we got off to a very slow start, and had numerous defensive breakdowns in our zone. (We did improve in this area as the game wore on and as the nerves settled down a little bit.) It also did not help that we were thin in numbers, as fatigue set in and we could not give adequate rest to the players as the game wore on. Despite this, the girls played hard all game, and the coach was pleased with their effort. Some highlights of the game were:
1. Alina’s three point attempt that just rimmed out. Alina has told the coach that a goal for the season was to score more points than she did last seas0n – a made 3 pointer would have almost brought her to last season’s total.
2. Shayna’s very casual shot and basket – she put the shot up with exquisite form and follow through, and swish – nothing but net.
3. The support from the fans, both the ICS ones and the Linden ones, who cheered on the team through to the final buzzer.
Some of the lowlights were: Sarah taking a shot to the throat area during the third quarter and Kristi turning her ankle during the fourth quarter (both events causing us to have zero subs during that time period) . Despite these events, the team managed to carry on the end of the game, giving their all.
Two curious points – first, the team only had two fouls throughout the game, one of them being a technical for interfering with a Linden inbound. Second, it was the first JV Girls game that I can remember that had 2 technical fouls called, one to each team (and for the same infraction – interfering with an inbound pass). There goes our streak of no technical games. We had one called against us about halfway through last season; maybe we’ve gotten this year’s out the way already then.
Congratulations to Linden on their victory. Kudos as well to the Linden team both on a well-played game and on keeping the score respectable.
Nicole Poppe led the team in points (4), rebounds (7) and blocks (2). Mikayla Teitsma and Sarah Nienhuis tied for the lead in steals with 3 each.
Our next game action is next week Thursday at St. Boniface.
The coach