Sports

Girls Coast to Two-Game Winning Streak

With two minutes left on the clock and the score tied 43-43 in Andover Girls Basketball’s game against Holderness last Saturday, Kate Hoey ’14 stole the ball from a Holderness player, raced down the court and nailed a shot from behind the arc. Hoey’s three-pointer gave Andover enough momentum to close out the game 49-43. Motivated by the win, Andover went on to score the most points in a single game all season against BB&N on Wednesday. The team topped BB&N, 62-27. Against Holderness, Andover played a 2-3 defense and focused on executing plays on offense. Andover had gained a 13-point lead by halftime with a score of 30-17. Holderness battled back in the second half with a surge of energy. With two minutes left, Holderness had tied Andover at 43-43. “Holderness came out much harder in the second half and we didn’t match that. We came out not as strong and that was definitely an opportunity they capitalized on,” said Co-Captain Katie Kreider ’14. “We started lagging in energy after such a long bus ride and weren’t in the right mindset, which is how our lead got away from us,” said Hannah Guzzi ’14. With Hoey’s three-pointer, Andover regained momentum. The team created turnovers and strong offensive plays to come home with a six-point victory. “It wasn’t so much what they were doing, but what we were doing. It should not have been that close by any means, and we played down to their level,” said Kreider. Against BB&N, Andover played one of its strongest games so far, as seen from the large point margin. Despite being the underdog in the matchup with only four wins, compared to BB&N’s ten wins, Andover forced many turnovers with an aggressive and effective defense. “What happened on Friday was [that] our defense was bad, which translated to bad offense. Against BB&N, our defense was a lot better and that always translates to good offense,” said Kreider. “Everyone was really pumped up, because it was our first home game in a really long time. People got really excited,” said Guzzi. By halftime, Andover had doubled BB&N’s score. The team led 30-15. “Offensive rebounds were so huge for us in the first half, and Cara Cavanaugh ’15 got almost every single one. Consistently getting the rebound was so important, because these rebounds added up against the other team and we started pulling away,” said Hoey. The team increased its lead in the second half. Andover forced more turnovers, drove the ball down the court and nailed more shots. BB&N, derailed by Andover’s strong offense, found itself in foul trouble. BB&N gave Andover 11 free throws, which Andover hit over 50 percent of the time. Andover was also consistent from behind the arc. Hoey knocked down two three-pointer and Sarah Humes ’16 and Victoria Bergeron ’16 nailed one three-pointer each. Top individual scorers included Hoey with a personal high of 18 points, Cavanaugh with 12 points, Kreider with 11 points and Humes with eight points. “We’ve never played better offensively or defensively,” said Bergeron. “It’s really encouraging to see how we keep improving over the season.” The team looks to build on this upward momentum against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) at a home game this Friday.