Girls Basketball

Girls Basketball Suffers Two Losses in Opening Games

Hannah McGrath ’20 stole the ball from a Choate offender at the top of the three-point line, dribbled the ball to the other end of the court, and scored a layup. Despite McGrath’s efforts, Andover Girls Basketball fell 59-53 at home against Choate on Saturday. On Wednesday, despite leading 26-24 at half time, Andover lost 52-63 against St. Andrews. Andover’s record now stands at 0-2.

Andover came back from an eighteen-point deficit during the second, just short of a win, according to Co-Captain Molly Katarincic ’18 and Cassidy Musco ’19.

“In the game on Saturday we were down by 18 points just after half-time, and we actually cut that down to a two-point [deficit]. It was a really good showing for our first game. I was really impressed with the team’s hustle, and they gave 100 percent on both ends of the floor,” said Katarincic.

“We hustled and played with a lot of heart. I think it’s just going to take time to get used to playing with one another, but after we figure that out, I’m confident that we will become an even stronger team,” added Musco.

On offense, the team moved the ball around the court in order to create good scoring opportunities. Defensively, Andover inhibited Choate’s drives to the net, limiting its opponents to shots from the outside, according to McGrath.

“Offensively, we worked the ball around and found the open man on defensive breakdowns, which lead to wide open shots and drives. We shut down their inside drives and had good transitions on defense. We need to improve on our rebounding and bouncing out. A lot of the other team’s points were from second chances and putbacks,” said McGrath.

On Saturday, Andover was able to build off of the energy from the crowd and the bench as well as adjust its play both offensively and defensively in the second half, according to Musco and Katarincic.

“Early on we noticed that they were a good shooting team, and we had to adjust from there. We had to play  stronger help defense, and we had to make sure that they didn’t beat us on the transition,” said Musco.

“I think that the momentum of the gym was also a really big thing for us. The crowd and the bench was really into the game, which contributed to the energy on the floor. The players on the floor were able to use that energy in order to create turnovers and scoring opportunities,” added Katarincic.

On Wednesday, despite leading 26-24 at half time, Andover lost 63-52 to St. Andrews. After a strong first half, it started off the second half slow, causing the team to fall behind in a close game, according to Katarincic.

“We had a really strong first half and offensive rebounding was really good. We came out a bit stale in the second, but were able to rally for five or six minutes. St. Andrew’s ran away with the score, but it was a super strong effort overall. St. Andrew’s played a zone defense that was a struggle for us to break, but we plan on practicing that more this week,” said Katarincic.

Andover will face Loomis Chaffee at home this Saturday.