Patriots Battle the Wolverines
By: Dee Rivera, a sophomore at Leigh High School
On Friday, December 11, the Patriot boys’ and girls’ basketball teams took on Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur (BRLD) at Clarkson in a night of marathon games.
Starting off the night was the girls’ JV and boys’ JV. The girls’ JV were having a rough time during the first half. The second quarter ended with a score with it being 1-20. The Clarkson-Leigh girls knew they had to get going and make some points during halftime. Even though they kept on battling during the 3rd and 4th quarter, they still lost the game.
Assistant coach Jennifer Remmereid said, “BRLD was a good game for our JV players to step up our game. They pressed us right away, and we unfortunately made some turnovers. But our players continued to battle in the first half and improved our press break. In the second half, we made some good offensive plays and did a lot of good things to find ways to increase the score.”
The boys’ JV also started the night off rough too. The score for halftime was 7-22.. For both the 3rd and the 4th quarters, the boys were able to make 13 points. Even though they were able to come back, it still wasn’t enough for them to win. The game ended with a score of 33-41.
In the girls’ varsity game, both teams got off to a slow start, but the Patriots jumped to a 6-5 lead after the first quarter. After resting for a bit they came in 2nd quarter with 13 points.
Going into halftime, the score was 16-18.
In the second half, the Patriots never lost control and finished the game 38-31.
Senior Cassidy Hoffman said, “We played very hard against BRLD. Our defense was great and each person on the court communicated well. It was definitely a team effort, and we hope to continue our win streak going forward.”
After the varsity girls took the win, it was time for the boys’ varsity team to come and play hard. The varsity started off with a quick lead in quarter one with the score being 17-16. But after a hard-fought first quarter, the Patriots were outscored 22-2 in the second for a disappointing score heading into half, 19-38.
Even though they were losing to them after halftime, the boys still gave it their all during the second half, but it was not enough to overcome a great team like BRLD, who has won over 50 straight games. The final score ended 36-73.
Coach Jeff Bachman said, “We had a great start. The guys came out fired up and executed the plan well. Unfortunately, BRLD took control and showed why they are the 2-time defending state champions. It is still good to see the growth and improvement by our guys.”
Stats are as follows:
Varsity Girls:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
BRLD 6 10 3 12 31
Clarkson/Leigh 5 13 9 11 38
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Chloe Hanel: 6, 3, 2, 5; Makenna Held: 4, Kennedy Settje: 14, 2, 2, 1; Faith Indra: 0, 1, 0, 0; Bailey Lemburg: 0, 2, 0, 0; Cassidy Hoffman: 10, 15, 4, 3; Alissa Kasik: 2, 1, 1, 0; Kayden Schumacher: 2, 7, 0, 1
Varsity Boys:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
BRLD 16 22 17 18 73
Clarkson/Leigh 17 2 9 8 36
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Eli Hays: 7, 3, 1, 1; Kyle Kasik: 9, 1, 5, 1; Mason Whitmore: 0, 1, 1, 0; Trevor Zulkoski: 9, 5, 0, 0; Carter Hanel: 11, 6, 7, 0; Logan Schroeder: 0, 2, 2, 0; Mitch Beeson: 0, 1, 1, 0; Jacob Eisenmann: 0, 0, 1, 0