All eyes have been on Girls Basketball since Winter Sports have started. Fans didn’t know what to expect coming into the season with new coaches and losing valuable players on the Varsity team. Our Girls Basketball teams did not fail to deliver. All three beat the Annandale Atoms. All the games were electric. Everyone watched as Varsity had a troublesome first half, then came back from the locker room with a shockingly strong defense in the second half to secure their win against Annandale, 57-40.

The girls seemed ready at the beginning of the game. Senior Jayela Lopez said, “It is my senior year. I knew we had to start off strong. We had to win this game.” Our ladies struggled to keep up with the Atoms in the first half, but they did keep within 5 points of the Atoms the entire time. Coach Hicks stood on the sidelines with arms crossed and a neutral expression on his face throughout that first half; he gave nothing away. At the end of the first half, we were 26-23, Atoms.

Going into the second half, the girls seemed more determined as they ran out onto the court. Junior Taylor Thompson said they had some realizations in the locker room. Coach Hicks told them they had what it takes to win; they just had to step up. Taylor said after that, “we realized we had the potential to beat them, and the means to beat them.” Jayela Lopez also talked about her thoughts in the locker room at half time. She said, “we all had to strap up on defense because when it really came down to it, we can score, we can get the ball in the post, we can do all that kind of stuff, but if we can’t play defense, then we don’t have anything.”

Everyone played hard in the home opener. A key player that helped turn the tide in the second half didn’t even get that many points. She was all defense. Jayela Lopez said, “Our real momentum came when Nevaeh got in the game. She guarded number 11 and she just strapped her up completely. Number 11 couldn’t get past the half court with the ball in her hand. Once we all tapped into that defense we knew we had this game.”

The real magic came in the second half when the team realized their win would lie in defense. Senior Trinity Chambers said, “to get in the other person’s head and make them turn the ball over, stay low and get the steal” is what helped them win. Trinity is a force on the court. She got 2 three pointers Friday night. Taylor Thomspon racked up the threes as well. When asked what was going through her head as she made her 3rd three pointer of the game, Taylor Thompson said, “I was missing a little bit and having a rough start, but once I made that last 3, I was ready to shoot some more.” The team really came together as a unit in the final half. It was a sight to behold.

Jayela let us know we have a season to look forward to when she said, “We are going to fight every game. It was great that we came back. We showed how much will and fight and skill our team has.”

Cheer on our Warriors and keep up with their games on Coach Hick’s Twitter, @BB_LadyWarriors. Make sure to support our Lady Warriors. It means a lot to the players and coaches. They have a tough game tonight at TC. There is also a double header next Tuesday, December 17th at Washington-Liberty. JV Girls play at 4:30pm, Varsity Girls play at 5:45pm and Varsity Boys play at 7:30pm at W-L. You can also catch our ladies on the home court when they play against Thomas Jefferson on Dec. 19th! Freshmen play at 4:30pm, JV plays at 5:45pm, and Varsity plays at 7:30pm.