Throughout this chilly long weekend, our Girl’s Varsity Basketball team competed in Byron’s annual MLK tournament. Going into the games on Monday, the Pirates had two losses to them against Byron and Kaneland, both games played on Saturday. But they came into Monday’s games against Rockford Harlem and Spring Valley Hill with a different attitude, and it showed.
First game of the day was against Rockford Harlem and the Pirates came out strong with a 10 – 6 lead. Both Leah Heller ‘27 and Gracie Furlong ‘25 put up 5 points each in the first quarter. “Being an underclassman on varsity is definitely a difficult position to navigate, “ Heller commented, “but I just know I need to go out there and play my game.”
Furlong kept her momentum going into the next quarter and scored an outstanding 14 points just in the second quarter. After half time, Meghan Koenings ‘28 established an important defensive role in the game as well as scoring 7 points. A chippy game also endured throughout the 3rd quarter, with both teams earning several fouls.
Going into the 4th quarter, both teams put out their best final efforts with Galena scoring 14 points and Rockford scoring 12 points. Galena players Koeings ‘28, Heller ‘27, and Furlong ‘25 all continued to add points to the scoreboard as well as freshman Sara Wienen. “Being a part of the Varsity scene for basketball is very new to me, but I’m excited to see what my role will be to the team for the rest of the season!” Wienen shared. The game concluded with a Pirate Victory of a 49 – 36 score.
For the second game of the day and the final game for the Pirates, we faced off against Spring Valley Hill. Coming in even hotter, the Pirates started off with a 14 – 6 lead. Furlong yet again reestablished her dominance on the court by having 9 of those points. “I understand the importance of my role and the privilege I have to be on the court each and every time I play” Furlong replied, “I take that into my game every time”.
In the second quarter, the Pirates played a very defensive heavy game only allowing Spring Valley Hill to score 5 points. In turn, the Pirates put up another 11 points and also went 2 for 2 for free throws.
After halftime, Spring Valley Hill began a more offensive push back but this didn’t stop the Pirates from still putting up 17 points. We saw contributions from many members of the team, one of them being Ell Law ‘27. “We all really started to come together in the second half,” Law shared, “everyone knew their part and went out and did it.”
The Pirates ended the game with a 50 – 31 lead, another Pirate victory. This advanced the teams to improve to 12 – 9 on the year. Many important games are upcoming for the team and Pirate nation wishes them the best of luck in the postseason.