GBB Ends Regular Season 20-1!
By: Makenna Held, junior
After a big win on Friday night the previous week against the Bulldogs, the Patriot girls’ basketball team was ready to finish their regular season by taking down two big opponents on the road. The girls took care of business and didn’t disappoint, finishing their regular season with a record-breaking 20-1!
On Tuesday, February 9th, the Lady Patriots played the first of these matchups against Pierce. There was no JV game, as the Bluejays had 8 players. After boys JV, it was time to shine.
The first quarter started off rough for the Patriots with two back-to-back possessions of turnovers and an easy drive left open for the Blue Jays. After a time out by Coach Murren, the Patriots were ready to play and fight for a big on-the-road win.
The rest of the first quarter was big for the Patriots. Excellent defense and making things happen on the other end of the court helped Clarkson-Leigh to get a big jump above Pierce. Second quarter the Patriots figured out help-side defense better, and this led to many turnovers by the Bluejays. At the end of the first half, the score was 20-10, the Patriots ahead.
The third quarter did not include much scoring from either team. The Patriots held the Bluejays to 7 points. The fourth quarter was going to be the most important defensively, to hold the Bluejays under.
The Patriots couldn’t get much rolling on the offensive end of the court, and the Blue Jays were hitting some lucky threes late in the game. With only a few seconds left in the game, the Bluejays were only down by 3. Fouling led to free throws being made by Clarkson-Leigh. The end of the second half was close, but the Patriots prevailed by four with an ending score of 35-31.
Kennedy Settje, junior guard from Leigh, said "This game was good for us. We needed a game that was going to be physical and competitive going into sub-districts next week. It allowed us to figure some things out about ourselves offensively and defensively, which we needed. Overall, this was a nice win for us to get under our belts!"
The second matchup of the week, and the last regular season game for the 2020-2021 season would be against the Stanton Mustangs. On Thursday, February 11th, the Patriots basketball squads traveled to Stanton.
The girls’ varsity would play first and the JV girls would follow.
The varsity press started off strong and got some easy buckets off of turnovers by the Mustangs. The Patriots were off to a good start and got a quick jump on the Mustangs.
The second quarter went similar to the first. Clarkson-Leigh got out of their press and pressured the Mustangs only in the half court. At the end of the first half the score was 24-8, Patriots ahead.
After half time, the Patriots were still prepared to pounce on the Mustangs. They went into the last quarter of their final regular season game ahead 42-16. Subbing occurred midway through the fourth quarter and Clarkson-Leigh won handily 51-26.
Matt Murren, head coach said “We came out right away and were able to put some pressure on them in the full court creating some turnovers and points. Defensively we played a really good first half in forcing them into tough looks. It was a great way to end the regular season as we head into sub-districts.”
Following the varsity was the JV. After a couple weeks of no games, the Patriots were prepared for their last game of the season. They started pressing the Mustangs but quickly got out of it. A decent defensive half was played, but offensively there were not many shots falling.
Going into half-time, the Patriots were down 10-18. Hoping for a better half offensively, the Patriots took the floor. Similar to the first half though, still not many shots were falling. With the Mustangs posts getting rebounds and shooting free throws from fouls, the Patriots could not catch up and lost the match.
Stats for the varsity games are as follows:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C-L 9 11 7 7 35
Pierce 6 4 8 14 31
(Points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Chloe Hanel—8, 5, 0, 2; Kennedy Settje—15, 6, 1, 2; Faith Indra—0, 0, 0, 0; Bailey Lemburg—3, 0, 1, 0; Cassidy Hoffman—0, 4, 3, 0; Alissa Kasik—6, 1, 0, 0; Kayden Schumacher—3, 3, 1, 1
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C-L 12 12 18 9 51
Stanton 4 4 8 10 31
(Points)
Chloe Hanel—17; Kennedy Settje—5; Faith Indra—2; Cassidy Hoffman—7; Alissa Kasik—12; Kayden Schumacher—4; Korbee Wendt—4;