Kenendy Herndon ’23 is a starting point guard for Andover
With an emphasis on defense, Andover Girls Basketball kept Proctor Academy to just 13 points in the first half, ultimately defeating Proctor on Wednesday with a score of 48-43. Last Saturday, Andover also beat Middlesex 54-40. The team’s record now stands at 9-9.
According to Niya Harris ’21, Andover went into the game against Middlesex knowing that the team could dominate, leading the energy on the court to increase as the game went on.
“We recognized that we could beat [Middlesex]… I think that we really came through in the second half. In the first half, we had the lead the whole time. We were doing well, but the second half we really wanted to not just do well, but to do as best as we could and really put ourselves out there,” said Harris.
Although the team’s defense was lacking in the first half against Middlesex, the players stepped up the intensity in the second half, according to Co-Captain Claire Brady ’20.
“I think defense has been a strong suit for us in most of the games so far this season, and I think that some of that was lacking at the first half of the game, but we picked it up more in the second half. We got a little too complacent on defense, like letting them get rebounds and not rotating really well,” said Brady.
According to Maya Shkolnik ’21, defeating Middlesex was indicative of the team’s potential and served as a confidence booster.
Shkolnik said, “I think this game was a really good representation of what we’re capable of. This was a really good win for us, and I think that it just gave us the push that we need to finish the rest of the season really strongly.”
Against Middlesex, the team learned to take control of the game and make the other team adapt to Andover’s playing style, according to Brady.
“I guess knowing that we can have the other team play to our game instead of us playing to theirs, and I think that was a really good demonstration of the potential we can have in any game despite who we’re playing,” said Brady.
Against Proctor, the team maintained a high energy on the bench and continued to focus on defense, according to Summer Seward ’21.
“The bench had crazy energy, and that’s what kind of kept us in the game. I think that we really continued to support our teammates regardless of what was going on on the floor, and that definitely really helped with talking and energy on defense. This was our best defensive game of the season,” said Seward.
As the team heads into its last few games of the season, it needs to work on starting out with high energy and keeping that up throughout the game, according to Harris.
Haris said, “I think the team can improve by bringing high intensity at the start of every game. A lot of the time, our second halves are usually better than our first half just because we find more motivation, whereas we need to work on just starting off with the intensity we want to play the entire game.”
Andover will face Dexter Southfield away on Friday.
