Girls start strong, but fall to top-ranked City

February 1, 2020

The Women of Troy couldn’t quite keep up with the Little Hawks.

Starting in the first quarter, Audrey Koch ‘21 attacked every chance she could get, swiftly moving her way through defenders for easy layups. Koch contributed eight of the 11 points West scored in the first quarter.

The second quarter was when the Women of Troy started to fall behind. City kept West rapidly fouling as they accumulated points from quick layups and soundless threes. At the end of the half West trailed 18-25.

After the halftime break, the Women of Troy picked the pace back up, keeping the Little Hawks student section sitting in quiet for the first two minutes of the third. After a made three by City the momentum returned to the Little Hawks, and they wouldn’t look back.

Tons of turnovers in the third kept West at a lower score and gave City a 45-28 lead at the end of the quarter. With such a strong City lead, the Women of Troy’s mentality plummeted and their shooting appeared to struggle as a result.

Sparse points by Jenna Saunders ‘21 gave some joy to the bench as Coach Mayer called multiple timeouts to try and convince the girls to still give it their all despite the inconsistent calls by the officials. After many pep talks, Grace Schneider ‘20 was back in for the last minutes of the third quarter. Schneider made a quick layup seconds before the third buzzer.

Once the game was clearly out of reach for West, Coach Mayer put in Kaitlyn Hillberry ‘20 and Avery Vest ‘22 to finish out the last minute and a half. Defense from the Hawks smothered the Women of Troy in the fourth quarter, ultimately leaving a 57-32 City victory.