The girls’ basketball team narrowly won its first preseason game against Freedom Christian at home on Dec. 2, 37-34.
Before the match began, junior Saachi Sikaria said that she was nervous.
“I feel really iffy about the game because I didn’t play a lot last year, and this year I am a starter,” she said.
Freshman Esme Romo felt similarly. Since this was Romo’s first basketball game, she said she didn’t know what to expect.
“However, once we started playing, I really enjoyed the game,” she said.
The starters included seniors Isabella Tochterman and Micaela Bennett-Smith, juniors Julia Owaidat and Sikaria and sophomore Natalie Brown.
The teams were evenly matched throughout the first quarter, with the end score being 8-8.
The points continued to alternate between the teams in the second quarter until the Cavs were able to gain a 6-point lead, making the score 17-11.
The girls kept the lead for the majority of the quarter until an Eagles’ player shot two 3-point shots in the very last minute of the quarter, evening the score to 17-17.
The scoring in the third quarter mirrored the scoring in the first quarter. When the Cavs would score a basket, Freedom Christian would immediately follow with a point of their own.
The girls were able to get ahead of Freedom Christian when Owaidat scored a basket, Tochterman scored a free-throw point and Owaidat shot a 3-point shot with 36 seconds left in the quarter.
The final score of the quarter was 29-23.
The fourth quarter started strong, with Owaidat scoring another basket in the first 15 seconds.
However, Freedom Christian started to catch up, making the score 35-34. Coach Matt Vargo called a timeout with 2:30 remaining in the quarter in order to break the scoring run.
After the game resumed, Tochterman scored a free-throw point after being fouled, and Brown scored a basket with only 20 seconds remaining.
The Cavs’ defense stayed strong until the end of the game.
Sikaria said that the Cavs played better than she expected.
“We were especially good at moving the ball tonight,” she said.
The girls’ next preseason match will be a home game on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. against Delta High School.
