On February 12th at 5:15 p.m., the San Domenico girls varsity basketball team faced an aggressive competitor, Lick Wilmerding. SD has previously beat Lick twice, so this game was viewed as just another win for SD; however, the turnout was not expected.
Before the game started, senior Carly Amborn responded to the question, “Do you think you guys will win and why?” Amborn said,“Yes, we have beaten them twice so we will do it again.” The confidence in her voice reassured her teammates that the game was nothing to worry about.
The game started off with Amborn on the tip off, which led to one of the SD girls getting the ball. The intensity was high and the gym was loud. SD was able to get the first ball in play and score, giving Wilmerding the opportunity to step up their game.
After the first point, Wilmerding scored. It was obvious that their intentions were to take home a win, based on the defense they were playing.
If SD was inbounding the ball, Wilmerding made sure everyone was guarding a player. There was no getting past their defense given the high press they were playing.
By the end of the first quarter Wilmerding had already pulled ahead with the score being 20-7. The panther’s were fighting; however, Lick’s defense was unstoppable.
If Amborn had the ball, the other team put three defenders on her, so that she wasn’t able to pass it. This was a crucial part of the game because being triple team leads to multiple turnovers. The more turnovers, the more shots the other team was able to take.
The fight SD put in paid off during the 3rd quarter when they were able to close the gap from being 34-20 to 45-38. However, fouls started being called left and right and the fans and parents did not agree with the calls. This made everyone aggravated. Aggravated enough that parents started arguing with the referee’s.
“Thank you for telling me how to do my job because I didn’t know how to,” one of the refs said to a parent.
Dave Whaley, biology teacher at SD and father of one of the players said, “…Lick has fast hands which worked in their favor because they were able to get all the deflections and steal the ball.”
This game had an unfortunate turnout because of how aggressive the other team was. By the time SD was finally making a comeback, it was already too late. The game ended with a close score of 51-59. It was a rough loss given the initial confidence that SD would win.
