On Tuesday, Dec. 10 Jefferson’s girls varsity basketball team wins 63-36 against Alexandria City High School.
After previously losing their scrimmage against Alexandria City, this time, Jefferson was determined to win.
“Sometimes I write down three goals, to remember them in my head,” junior Abeni Smith said. “I guess what I want to do whenever I go into the game, I want to hustle, be a good team player, play hard defense, get some skills, like, support my teammates.”
Other players agree that this game went well.
“It was a good win,” junior Julia Baer said. “I think everyone played really well and we ran everything we wanted to run.”
After starting off strong, Jefferson maintained the lead the entirety of the game.
“Knowing each other, and how we’re going to play, through our bond, really helped us beat the other team,” senior team captain Kaiden Kerkulah said.
The team communicated smoothly with each other and their coaches, even when Alexandria was being overly aggressive without receiving fouls.
“I felt like a lot of the [other team’s] players were fouling the whole game and they didn’t get called,” Baer said. “A lot of people on the bench and our coaches were upset about it, but we can’t really control what the referee says.”
After a player on the other team shoved Baer, Jefferson’s coach scolded the referees for not equally calling fouls.
“We know, since playing this team before, that they are a very aggressive and rough team,” Kerkulah said. “I think for that a lot of the time you just cant let it get in your head, you just have to play through it.”
Despite the opposing team’s aggressiveness, Jefferson remained focused and continued to score points.
“Kaiden scored the most points,” Baer said. “She’s definitely one of the best players on our team.”
Despite still recovering from a minor back injury, Kerkulah scored a total of 15 points during the game.
“The first half was definitely our strongest point of the game,” senior Helena Johnson said.
By the end of the first quarter Jefferson had scored 12 points, leaving them ahead by 10 points.
“We were feeling pretty good,” Kerkulah said. “But we weren’t too over our heads because it’s not that big of a lead, so we stayed calm and [continued to] play pretty solid.”
After halftime, the gap between the teams had grown by several points, and Jefferson persisted with their offensive plays.
“[Going into the last quarter] we had a solid lead, so there were good vibes all around and everyone was pretty energetic,” Smith said. “Even in the last five seconds of the game we were still pressing and trying to get the ball.”