Image courtesy of Lauren McNulty

Jackie Pritcahrd dribbles the basketball down the court. “Jackie scored 15 [points],” freshman Amrutha Somireddy said. “ It was a great game.”

On Thursday, Nov. 22, Jefferson’s girls freshman basketball team won against Alexandria City High School 28-4 in their first scrimmage of the year

Despite winning the game, the team ran into some issues with the opposing team.

“Some of [the other team’s players] were so aggressive that some of our players started bleeding,” freshman Amrutha Somireddy said.

Even with some of the injuries, the team had a good game overall, proving their skills and efforts. One of the girls, freshman Jackie Pritcahrd, scored 15 out of the 28 points. 

“Jackie, scored 15 [points],” Amrutha said.

The team’s victory wasn’t dependent on one person, however. Together they tried to use the opposing team’s weaknesses, one of which was speed.

“They weren’t that fast [so] we tried to use speed,” Amrutha said. “We just tried to [be] faster [than them].”

The Jefferson’s girls basketball teams recently had their tryouts on Monday Nov. 11, 2024  to Wednesday Nov. 13.

“We did a timed mile run,” said freshman Coralyn Struebing. “During the tryouts, [the coaches] ran a bunch of drills, and we did scrimmages at the end.”

For some freshmen, it was their first time playing a basketball game. 

“Some of the players in the first game had some jitters when they were playing,” said Jefferson girls basketball team coach Frank McNulty. “But they worked through that and did much better.” 

Playing a basketball game for the first time can be nerve-racking. On the other hand, other freshmen have had years of experience. 

“I started in fourth grade, then I took a little break, and then in seventh grade I took it seriously,” Struebing said.

The team has many experienced players but is always welcoming new players each season.

“Everybody pretty much gets along with each other,” McNulty said. “They’re always positive and want everybody to succeed on the team.”