Hailey Lovell PG’19 joined the team this year as a Post-Graduate.
Stealing the ball from the St. Paul’s point guard, Hannah Cuff ’21 broke away up the court to give Andover an opportunity early in the possession to get its offense going. Despite the team’s efforts, Andover Girls Basketball fell 56-34 on Wednesday at home to St. Paul’s. Earlier in the week on Saturday, Andover fell to Deerfield 53-46. The team’s record now stands at 3-11.
Despite a four game losing streak, the team is focused and optimistic, according to Head Coach Elizabeth Monroe.
“The vibe is very positive. The girls are playing well and go into every practice and game ready to work hard,” Monroe wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
Early in the game, Deerfield started to pull away, but Andover’s tight defense in the fourth quarter brought it back into the game, according to Monroe.
“In the last quarter of the game, we really fought back and made it close. We always have a hard time shooting at Deerfield, but they kept their composure and worked on solid defense and rebounding to keep us in the game.” wrote Monroe.
Andover utilized the strength of its full court press to put pressure on Deerfield’s offense, according to Hannah McGrath ’20.
“Our full court press brought us back. We had high energy pressing and created strong strips that made them panic and unable to complete passes, allowing us to get steals and score,” said McGrath.
Andover’s defensive strength carried over to its game against St. Paul’s, allowing it to shut down St. Paul’s best player on Wednesday, according to Katherine Marquis ’21.
“The team focused on guarding their key player well. We shut down their big player for most of the game and she didn’t score as much as she normally does or get as many offensive rebounds.” wrote Marquis in an email to The Phillipian.
Despite turning the ball over a lot on offense, the team’s half-court defense was effective, according to Claire Brady ’20.
“I think we did a really nice job prohibiting them from being effective in their half-court offense. It was often on quick turnovers where we struggled with defense. Our half-court defense was strong, and we shut down a lot of their plays,” said Brady.
Looking ahead, Andover hopes to improve its transition game to avoid turnovers, according to Marquis.
Marquis wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “We need to improve on managing our turnovers because they got a lot of easy points by being wide open on fast breaks after we turned the ball over. We also need to focus on being mentally prepared for the game after a long bus ride because we looked tired on the court.”
Andover will look to break its losing streak against Kimball Union Academy on Saturday.
