1/27 – Andover: 52, Kimball Union Academy: 38
1/31 – Andover: 46, Brooks: 56
After missing its Wednesday game against St. Paul’s due to the campus shutdown from the flu and Covid-19 outbreak, Girls Basketball came back strong on Saturday, defeating Kimball Union Academy (KUA). The following Wednesday, in a close game against Brooks, the team ultimately fell.
According to Sophie Dandawa ’25, the team was ready to jump right into playing on Saturday against KUA and noted the excitement that came with playing in front of more fans than usual.
“The atmosphere was really different from most home games. For one, our Wednesday game was canceled so we were really excited to finally get back to playing this weekend. We were also coming off of a win against Deerfield so we were hungry to win again. Also, there were a lot more people there than usual, so it was super exciting to play in front of a bigger crowd,” wrote Dandawa in an email to The Phillipian.
Cuyler Sparks ’27 shared that Girls Basketball was able to maintain a strong lead throughout the whole game. She noted that in past games this was a weakness for the team, but, against KUA, it was able to increase its lead as the game went on.
In an email to The Phillipian, Sparks wrote, “Usually out of halftime, there’s been a couple of games where we’ve come out with the lead and then fell back and gave up the win, or gave up the lead that we had. [However], for this game, we came out really strong, and I think that they were able to push this lead from 11 to 20 plus at one point, so I think that was a really important moment.”
Going into the game, new Head Coach Jen Weissbach advised the players to come out strong in the beginning. Dandawa noted that during practices leading up to the game, the team worked on ways to achieve that, while also working specifically on the defense.
“Coach Weissbach’s point before the game was to set the tone, and a lot of the work we’ve done this week reflects that. There were a lot of high energy fast break drills we practiced, as well as working on good defensive rotations, which we did really well in the game because our defense was very sound,” wrote Dandawa in an email to The Phillipian.
Sparks highlighted the way in which the team was able to connect and string plays together. In addition, she noted the consistent high energy that contributed to the overall success of the team.
“We just played like a team, we played really cohesively, and that played a really important role in how we were able to win and score during the game. Also, the energy was really good during that game. It stayed consistent the whole game and [the] energy really helped us,” wrote Sparks in an email to The Phillipian.
In its Wednesday game against Brooks, Girls Basketball had to adjust to playing an away game after three home games in a row. Dandawa noted the intense “rivalry” of the game because of the close proximity of Brooks and Andover.
Dandawa said, “It was our first away game after a stretch of three home games in a row. It kind of felt different to be back on the road again. It also felt like a little bit of a rivalry because Brooks is so close. They had a lot of people there cheering for themselves, we had a lot of family cheering for Andover, so it was a really intense game.”
According to Alani Rodriguez ’27, despite starting off slow, the team was able to work together to close the gap by halftime. However, the team ultimately lost by ten points.
“[The] first three minutes of the game, we came out a little slow, we were down 13, but we were able to stick together as a team and cut the lead to three points putting us in the position to win the next two quarters. But, unfortunately, we didn’t come up with the win,” Rodriguez wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
Looking forward, the team hopes to work on coming out strong from the beginning. Dandawa shared that working on fewer turnovers will help the team succeed for the rest of the season.
Dandawa said, “For the next two games, we want to start the game stronger because I think that’s where we really lacked against Brooks today. And we also need to just minimize turnovers, and I think if we can do that, we can minimize turnovers, then we’ll be looking really good for the remainder of the season.”
Girls Basketball will play Middlesex at home this Saturday.
