Girls Basketball

Andover Girls Basketball Earns Strong Win Over Brewster

Leading by only one point at halftime, Andover Girls Basketball widened its lead in the second half to clinch a 46-36 win over Brewster this Wednesday in its first game back from Winter Break.

During the game, Andover utilized a high press on Brewster to neutralize the opposition’s attacks. On offense, Post-Graduate Corina Lindsay ’17 made an early impact in the game through effective drives in the paint. Casey Yarborough ’17 also scored from the three-point mark early in the game to help give Andover a 21-20 lead at the half.

In the second half, Andover came out with a hunger to win. Applying constant high pressure, Andover was able to rebound many of Brewster’s balls to score baskets.

Andover owes its victory to its discipline during practices leading up to the game.

Captain Emma Kelley ’17 said, “I think coming to practice ready and focused is key. It’s easy to get caught up in Andover, especially in the winter when the weather makes everything harder. The team can use basketball as an outlet while also getting better for games.”

To gel as a team both on and off the court, Andover made an early return to campus from break on Thursday before its season started up again. During these extra days, the team developed and changed its game, which translated into its win against Brewster.

Emily Hardy ’20 said, “We added a lot of new plays into our offense so we have multiple different options. We also did a lot of different team-building exercises, which were really helpful after the Winter Break.”

Head Coach Lani Silversides said, “We had a few practices working on our plays making sure everyone knew them and could run them as well as getting back into good conditioning.”

The team is also emphasizing communication in its games and practices.

Kelley said, “Communication is huge for us moving forward. I try to make my team have a lot of talking. We just implemented a few new plays so discipline and focus will be really important to ensure our new plays work.”

Coach Silversides said, “We hope each game to make improvements from the game before. We want to play at a high speed and our goals will be focused on communicating and playing our hardest while executing to the best of our ability.”

Andover looks to add to its recent success against Milton at home this Saturday.

Editor’s Note: Emma Kelley is a Features Editor for The Phillipian.