Girls Basketball

Girls+Basketball

Kayleigh Blocho

On Monday, January 18, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Fillmore (D1) to play their third game of the season. The team went into the game knowing that Fillmore had a lot of strong players and the girls’ nerves were racing. Unfortunately, the team felt as if there was no coming back from the lead Fillmore had in the second quarter and things fell apart from there. The girls had a tough loss and hoped to redeem themselves in the next game. Hanah Helms was the high scorer for Belfast with six points.

After the very hard loss from Fillmore, the team looked to regain their confidence and momentum on Wednesday, December 20, their first home game of the year, against Friendship (D2). The girls pulled through with a 41- 35 win over the visiting Lady Eagles. Megan Rose led the Bulldogs with 11 points and nine rebounds. Kayleigh  Blocho and Hanah Helms both added 10 points along with seven and eight rebounds respectively. During halftime,  the girls talked about not letting the win get away from them, having a 12 point lead going into the third quarter.  Friendship almost came back, but the  girls held it down, outscoring them in the fourth quarter. This win was a big confidence booster and also put the Lady Bulldogs one step closer to potentially being County Champs for the second year in a row.

On Wednesday, January 3, the  team traveled to play Whitesville (D1). The team had taken a trip to the Houghton tournament a few days prior before the game to see what Whitesville brought the table. The girls knew that they had a chance of winning, with Whitesville not being as strong as years prior, but unfortunately, the girls had an off game and were not playing as a team and evidently took the loss. Morgan Hamer was the high scorer for the Lady Bulldogs, having 8 points.

The girls were relieved to be going into another league game against Friendship, but due to bad weather, school was closed and the game was canceled. The next stop was Prattsburgh(D1), the game everyone would like to forget about, but it was a learning experience and most likely a turning point in the girl’s season. On Monday, January 8, the team had a long drive to play a team none of the girls had ever taken on before. They didn’t know what to expect going into the game, so they decided they were going to play for fun and just try their best. Prattsburgh has an outstanding team with a lot of experience and talent, so the girls took a hard loss, but they learned what they had to work on to improve.

The next practice, the girls talked about what needed to be done and how things were going to be for the rest of the season. For the first couple games, prior the girls were getting outrun. With such a small team, it is easy to get tired, so one of the things they needed to do was get in better shape. The girls had a very hard practice and also put in a tremendous amount of effort, knowing that things needed to improve.

The great practice the girls had definitely paid off when they played Houghton(D2) a couple days later. The Lady Bulldogs had an outstanding home game. Everyone did a great job and the girls played as a team, which was key to their 49-30 home win. Kayleigh Blocho was the high scorer of the game with 15 points, six of them being from three point shots. Hanah Helms added 12 points and Morgan Hamer chipped in 10 points, also doing great under the basket with eight rebounds. Megan Rose had eight rebounds as well and did great defensively, having five steals.

The Lady Bulldogs traveled to Scio (D2) January 17 to take on the third team they will have to compete against for County Champs. The girls had a great game, but unfortunately fell short only 6 points. Kayleigh Blocho was the high scorer for Belfast with 12 points as well as 9 rebounds. Morgan Hamer did great under the basket again with 12 rebounds.

On Friday January 19th, the girls took on Houghton for the second time this season and brought home the win. Morgan Hamer was the high scorer with a game high of 13 points. Megan Rose added 7. The girls have their third home game of the season, playing Whitesville for the second time on Monday Jan 22 (today): hope to see you there!