By Lauren Nguyen, Staff Writer
This Tuesday, Barons varsity girls’ basketball faced off the Marina Vikings, following the induction of alumna Nicole Strange into the Hall of Fame. The Barons were matched with the Vikings shot for shot, point for point until the third quarter. Though the team continued to play hard and maintained a strong defense overall, the Vikings overpowered the Barons with their shots and set a final score of 39-52.
“I feel like we were pretty prepared like we had a game plan, but we didn’t expect the other players to make everything. [After the game] I think we still felt pretty good because we tried to do the best we can, we gave it our all,” said junior Kathleen Luu.
The Barons lead the Vikings all the way through the first quarter with shots from sophomore Kristen Ho and senior Megan Lai. The two teams established a quick game pace and kept the ball moving up and down the court. The Barons held their own, specifically blocking the Vikings from rebounding. Within the last minute of the quarter, the Vikings made their first two shots of the game, changing the score from 7-0 to 7-6.
Both teams continued to play consistently in the second quarter. Ho continued to take her chances and shot well, making multiple shots. In the last three minutes, the score was tied at 13-13 until Lai and freshman Audry Tengan made their last shots, ending the second quarter at 17-16. Additional key players were Luu and senior Iris Hasegawa. Luu also took two important charges, taking the ball away from the Vikings.
The teams were evenly matched until halfway through the third quarter when the score was 23-24. The Vikings began to pull ahead with more power in their passes and more accuracy in their shots. The Barons continued to play steadily, but narrowly missed multiple shots and gave Marina a few “easy baskets.” The quarter ended with a score of 25-36.
In the fourth quarter the Barons and Viking carried on scoring as steadily as they had been in the first and second quarter. Marina scored the first shot of the quarter, a three-pointer and freshman Margaret Tengan countered it, scoring a three-pointer as well. The Barons put out their best game for the last quarter with multiple stellar shots by Margaret Tengan and Audry Tengan and stopped the Vikings from making a bigger difference in the score. However, their effort was not enough to close the ten-point gap that remained through to the end.
“Obviously I was disappointed we lost but I felt like we almost had that one but their shots kept falling and ours did not. But I think overall we played pretty good and as a team and I think our defense was very good today, “ said Margaret Tengan. “I think we should just keep up the intensity and the energy and and just win.”
With this loss, the Barons are no longer contending for first place in League, but are occupying second place.
“I think they brought the energy pretty much all night. I mean, I can’t say at any time that there was a let down. I’m just really proud of the kids,” said Head Coach Marianne Karp. “You know, you can only play your best and if the other team plays better, than they deserve to win and [Marina] played better tonight.”
The Barons’ next home game is this Saturday at 6 p.m. in the gym.
