Girls Basketball Defeated by New Canaan with Starting Center Injured

         

By: Lily Boe

     Darien Girls Basketball was defeated by its competitive rival, the New Canaan Rams, on Tues. (1/10).

          New Canaan performed impressively from the start. The Rams made the first basket of the game—a staggering three-pointer—in just the first minute of the first quarter. With roughly three minutes left in the first quarter, freshman Lane Davis made Darien’s first basket. Junior Kate Bushell then followed up with another basket, bringing the score to 4-7, New Canaan. Senior captain Amy Biggart intercepted a forceful New Canaan pass and scored Darien another two points. Darien finished the first quarter behind 7-12. 

          Davis made the first basket of the second quarter. With roughly two and a half minutes left in the first half, freshman Daly Naughton made an impressive basket, followed by another by Bushell. New Canaan made a three-point shot with six seconds until the buzzer, and Darien finished the first half down 13-21.

          Senior captain Leslie Yuen started the team off strongly in the second half, making an astounding three-point shot in the first thirty seconds. Unfortunately, the third quarter only went downhill from there for Darien—New Canaan scored 19 points total after a round of successive baskets. Darien entered the fourth quarter down 20-40.

          In the fourth quarter, Bushell was fouled while attempting to make a two-point shot. She made both the basket and the singular foul shot successfully. Sophomore Kelly Karczewski was the shining star of the last quarter—she made three remarkable three-pointers with only minutes left in the game. Despite putting up a good fight, Darien ultimately lost to the Rams 35-48.

          Senior captain Susan Biggart felt that overall, the team performed strongly, especially considering that a key player, junior Meg Marren, was absent from the game due to injury. “We worked really hard. We knew we were going to have trouble because our starting center is injured,” Biggart said. While the loss to New Canaan was certainly disappointing, Biggart remains optimistic. She said, “Every single one of our players put in a solid effort even when we were losing.”

The girls’ next game is this Friday (1/13) versus Greenwich. The game is to take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Greenwich High School Gymnasium. All are encouraged to come and support the girls strive for a victory after this tough loss!

Pictured above: The girls huddle as a team before the game.

Pictured below: Junior Kate Bushell looks for an opening to pass the ball.