On Thursday, January 17, the girls varsity basketball team took on the Round Lake Panthers at home. The game started off slow as both teams attempted to understand the plays of the other team. Finally, after a steal by senior Rachel Phillips, the Sequoits were able to drive inside the key and score.

The Sequoits had some great defensive rebounds by freshman Avery Larson that led to some offensive chances. Towards the middle of the first quarter, Round Lake started to work hard and dig deep that ended with points for their team. Even though Round Lake started to push hard, the girls held the lead 9-5.

As the second quarter played out, the Sequoits started to get into trouble and allowed the Panthers to get points off turnovers. With a failure to communicate and missed passes, the Panthers took a strong lead of 15-11. The girls continued to go back and forth and as the end of the half came, the Panthers were up 15-13.

“We could have been much better at focusing on catching the ball in the post,” senior Samantha Brown said. “We should of taken better care of the ball and made sure to make a good pass.”

As both teams came out of the half, the Sequoits were hoping to come out strong and click better. Again, with poor decisions on offense, the Panthers were able to capitalize on odd-man rushes and driving in the post which allowed them to run up the scoreboard making it 21-13.

With the girls feeling like this will be a repeat game of past losses, they got frustrated and commited fouls. Junior Nayla Loos ends up fouling out and with one of the Sequoits top girls out, they continued to struggle and the Panthers took advantage of it. Slowly but surely the girls were able to make some baskets and get within 10 points of Round Lake with a score of 29-19.

In the fourth quarter, it was a constant battle between fouls and a failure to communicate for the Sequoits that allowed Round Lake to pull away with a score of 34-19. The Sequoits decided to take a timeout and try to at least finish strong, but with the constant pressure of the Panthers, the game ended with a score of 41-21.

The girls were unhappy and not satisfied with their effort and performance in the game.

“I didn’t think I had the best game today, I could have played much stronger and gone up stronger with the ball,” junior Miranda Chamberlin said.

As the girls try to get ready for their game at North Chicago on Saturday, January 19, they will regroup and try to finish the season strong.