BBALL FRIENDLY EXCHANGE!
After the volleyball season had come to an end, the basketball season arrived for the high schoolers. These past few months, the girls and guys have been practicing and playing against other schools-improving their basketball skills and preparing for their future games. On January 12th, 2019, was the first friendly tournament of the season-held at both Hope and Logos.
Starting off rough
Having to wake up early the morning is tough, especially on the weekend. That's what the basketball players had to do, with the first game for the girls' A team being at 8:30 AM. Playing against the school of the Falcons was difficult: everyone was tired, there were many fouls on both teams, and despite all the hard work and effort, we lost. Although the girls' A team lost their first game, in the end, they climbed to the top and won their game against NISC.
As for the girls' B team, they also played against ISPP for their first game. They started off behind, but eventually caught up and won the game! Oddly enough, they had to play against them for their second game... and they won! Beating them not once, but twice? Hard work really does pay off.
The epitome of intensity
Most of us aren't morning people, so waking up early to play an active sport against other schools isn't at the top of our to-do list. That wasn't the case for the boys' A team. With their first game against ISPP, adrenaline and excitement filled the air. Dramatic? Energetic? "Intensity taken to the extreme" is the best way to describe this game. The boys played rough for this game, and they worked hard. Both teams played with aggression, trampling over each other and stealing the opponent's ball. With coaches shouting from both ends of the court and people cheering, loud noises blasted throughout the court, making it difficult for the players to even hear one another. There was no room for air. In the end, the lightning beats the Falcons, leaving them "shocked." (That was a horrible pun, I'm sorry).
Breaking the pattern of consecutive games against ISPP, the boys' B team played against CIA for their first game. Although there was that one player from CIA who made multiple three-pointer shots so successfully, winning most of the points for his team, our players caught up to him. Their hard work and effort showed by the great shots they made in the court. They did great for starting off their first game of the tournament and winning!
Thoughts?
We asked some of the players about their thoughts on the first tournament of the season, and here's what they said:
Eunho believed that it was a "good opportunity to see how each team played because it would prepare them for future games, and it was good practice." The tournament was quite difficult, though, since they played with schools they haven't played against in the past - but after participating in the tournament, they now have a grasp of how to play with them.
Ratana, in modern poetry form:
really messy game
Woke up early so everyone was tired
First game of the day so a lot of stress
Forgot plays
Vibe was off
Ended first game badly
More energy 2nd game and won NISC
Ji Seop, in salty sentences:
"We were expected by everyone to lose our game against ISPP, but I'm happy we pulled this one off. I definitely thought our defense is getting close to being where we want it and offensively, we're getting more confident but we need more consistency to back it up.
The highlights would be me making 2 3's at the start of the game.
And Luke making a 3 when the game was pretty close, so that was a dagger.
Low lights would be the whole NISC game where I shed some tears, but we'll hit them back next time. Imma destroy that team so bad they don't even wanna play anymore."
(we'll hold you to that, Jiseop!)
Janice told us that B team played really well together and she thought they all had fun. A highlight was "when Michelle jumped like 5 ft up." She didn't have any lowlights - "we fixed our mistakes and things became better."
Laura, also in modern poetry form:
"we won ISPP
we worked as a team to fix the issues and find ways to make our d and o better and stronger
we had an amazing zone
we swung the ball smoothly
we were in control"
Bona's answers were brief. "It was really fun. Our second game was hard but first, it was fun."