Thomas Jefferson

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Rough Start for Girls' Hoops

Posted 12/08/2009 by Chris Carter

Girls’ Basketball continues to struggle as they lose third straight contest, making their record 0-3.

photo by Rebecca Holt

photo by Rebecca Holt

The TJ lady Spartans hosted the Widefiled Gladiators Thursday night, and unfortunately lost.  The girls fought hard all game, and lead  at halftime by three points.  However, when the start of the second half came, the girls came out sluggish and not playing with the same mentality that they played with in the first half.   “We didn’t put enough pressure on the ball, and at times shots weren’t contested,” said Senior Shanora Ali.

Widefield shot very well from beyond the arc and out-rebounded the Spartans, who committed 29 turnovers, 17 of them coming from the first half.  The absence of point guard Ashley Berry started to affect the Spartans, as they struggled with ball handling.  Junior Olivia Breningstall had a good game, however, demonstrating her passing abilities, and Senior Aryn Grywusiewicz had a good game scoring many buckets that helped keep the game intense.

Then, on Friday night, the Spartans went down to Kent Denver and lost 39-22.  The girls made some of the same mistakes that they did against Widefiled by creating turnovers and coming out flat in the second half.  One thing that really hurt the Spartans was the fact that most of the team was injured.  The girls’ only had two subs coming off of the bench, so many girls were extremely tired.  The team learned from the game that they need work on their zone defense.  “We struggled against their zone, and most of their points came from steals they got playing in their zone,” said Aryn Grywusiewicz.

Head Coach Steve Thomas has not been pleased with his team’s play at this juncture in the season.  “We aren’t playing to our full capability and its showing on the court.  We look like we’re playing scared at times, and we need our full team in order to be successful,” said Thomas.

The girls look to bounce back against Rampart High School on Monday the 14th 7:00 pm at TJ.