The girls’ basketball team won their first two games so far this season at the 2016 Firebird Winter Classic at Lawrence Free State Jan. 28-30, earning a 5th place spot at the tournament. The wins broke a 26-game losing streak that reached back into the 2014-15 season.
They played three games, losing the first to Wichita South on Thursday (59-30). They won against Sumner on Friday (67-59) and Great Bend on Saturday (76-68).
Starter and sophomore Sofia Stechschulte was injured during warm-ups on Saturday. Stechschulte was diagnosed with a mild concussion and is now hoping to be back as soon as next week. Instead, Quincy Bair started in her place, finishing the game with six points.
“It was different not having her [Steschschulte] there because we all started to get in foul trouble, especially our posts,” Bair said. “So we had to make sure we were playing good defense and not getting in too much trouble.”
Junior Josie Clough, usually a quiet guard, was 5-6 from the three-point line against Great Bend on Saturday. The momentum of the cheering bench seemed to give her some confidence.
“It was really fun because usually we don’t have a lot of hype like that, especially at an out-of-town tournament to see everyone cheering and getting excited,” Clough said. “It really got all of us going and that’s how we won the game.”
The team is optimistic that this game will give them momentum for tonight’s home game against SM West at 7 p.m
“Now that we have the ball rolling, we all feel really confident because we learned how to put all four quarters together,” Clough said. “It’s a big rival game tonight and we lost to them last time in a really close game. We’re coming in really wanting to win it.”