In the first game of her Andover career, Kennedy Herndon ’23 scored 19 points, aiding Andover Girls Basketball in its 65-49 defeat of Pomfret on Saturday during the first game of the season.
According to Niya Harris ’21, Herndon was a significant contributor to the team’s win and stood out on court due to her patience.
Harris said, “This is her first high school game and she did amazing. She was probably the best player of the game. When we moved the ball around, [Head Coach Liz Monroe] always [said] ‘Patient, patient, patient,’ and every time we were patient, moved the ball around, and didn’t try to force anything, we had the best plays. Kennedy Herndon was pretty much the star of that game.”
The energy of Saturday’s game was high, according to Co-Captain Claire Brady ’20 and Harris.
Brady said, “It was our first game of the season, so everyone was really excited for that. I think some people were a little nervous because we have a lot of new people on the team this year as well. But I would say in general, it was all around positive.”
Harris added, “Everyone was really hyped up and even during the game we were always louder than the other team in terms of cheering each other on.”
Andover demonstrated strength during its first game of the season, especially in terms of teamwork, but it will need to limit its errors in future games, according to Katherine Marquis ’21.
Marquis wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “[Having] both the players on the floor and the bench hyped up improved our communication, effort, and level of aggressiveness. Pomfret wasn’t the most technical team, so we were able to get away with some mistakes that we won’t be able to keep doing later in the season.”
On Wednesday Andover fell to Worcester Academy 72-33, bringing its record to 1-1.
According to Marquis, Andover needs to work on developing both its defense and offense.
“We were having difficulty guarding Worcester on defense because they were making hard cuts, which opened up driving lanes and made help defense difficult. In our offense, we needed to incorporate the same hard cuts that Worcester did to open up more driving lanes for our players. We had success in going to the basket and getting foul calls, but we still needed to finish more,” wrote Marquis.
According to Brady, this game was a good early-season chance for the team to figure out plays.
Brady said, “We are all still learning how to play together, so there were some missing ends with the playing today. But it was a really good opportunity to play a good team and get a sense of what we can work on to improve in our next games.”
Andover will play Loomis Chaffee this Saturday at home.
