Haris Yahaya ’24
The Blue Storm girls’ varsity basketball team has quietly played several games, establishing a solid record midway through the season. They stand at a win-loss record of 3-4, just below .500, and have fought a handful of close games, some coming down to the wire. Thus far, they fell to Cumberland Valley High School (49-44) and came up just two points short against Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School. However, Mercersburg also won a tough game at St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School in a score of 50-48.
Each game ended with a final score differential of five points or less; however, most recently the team eked out a win against Highland School (45-42) led by captain Rachel Hull 23’ who posted a stat line of 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Reflecting on the season thus far, Paul Sipes, head coach, said, “We have had two rusty starts, but once we get going we are a very solid defensive team. If we start making lay-ups we could finish in the upper half of the MAPL. The players work very well together and are starting to learn how they can rely on each other.”
Captain Cate Vickery ‘22 said, “Practices have been going great so far this year, and the team’s chemistry has been awesome. We are a tight-knit group that all get along on and off the court.”
Although the Blue Storm has worked to build its dynamic, there still are many challenges facing the team. “We are facing another year of COVID which has caused us to lose practices and games,” Hull said. Zareena Sorho ‘23 commented, “An issue we are facing as a team is our pride. We tend to lose pride in a game sometimes.” Sorho went on to say that the solution to this problem starts with each athlete individually before “expanding that pride out to the whole team.”
Considering the season ahead, Sipes said, “We are looking forward to this compressed end to the season and will try and make an impact in the MAPL tournament and maybe can win the IPSL Cup series. We will be a force and be in the final there anyway. There is a chance we could appear in the Commonwealth Cup for PAISAA at this point as well.”
Although the Blue Storm has just come off two close games and tough wins, they have an even tougher schedule ahead. They will face Blair Academy and The Hun School of Princeton, both teams above .500, in the coming week. The team is currently on a two-game winning streak. We will see if they can keep the momentum going.