7th grade girls play, and play well

When the 7th grade girls show up to a game, they are usually pretty good. But the problem so far this season is that not all of them have showed up.

Today, all six girls were in uniform, but Amy, fighting a cold was unable to play. So they ran with five.

They five they ran with did one heck of a job as they scored the most points ever in team history, 30. The problem was the other team scored just a little more in a 41-30 loss.

Midway through the 3rd quarter, Melina picked up her fifth foul of the game on a moving screen, and the 7th grade girls were left short handed for the rest of the game. Even 4 on 5, the girls were still within three points late in the 4th quarter.

At that point, the game looked like it would soon become a blowout. But the girls were resilient and had some fight left in them. In the final minute of the 3rd quarter, Cynthia came down and hit a two shots in succession, including a 3 pointer that cut the lead to just two heading into the fourth.

But the man disadvantage proved too much to overcome as the other team ran away with the game towards the end with some uncontested buckets that sealed the game.

Following two straight forfeits, this game had disaster written all over it, but the girls came out with some energy and were able to execute against an undefeated team.

Julia was a beast, as she scored 8 of her career high 12 points in the first half. Julia knocked down the first two shots she took in the game and was just a hawk around the basket, getting to loose balls and putting them back up.

Cynthia showed her range, nailing two more 3 pointers in the game, and hitting several outside shots on her way to a career high 13 points.

Tiffany added 3 points and Wendy 2 points, all in the second half.

It was a surprise but also a glimpse of how good this team could be if they could all consistently show up to practice and games. The little things like getting in front of the other team on out of bounds plays, or passing it to a teammate in the right spot, are all lost when the girls don't get a chance to practice. And that's why they lost the game.

Now the girls can use this game to their advantage and start to build. At (2-3), they are still well and alive in the playoff chase and will need to play like they did Saturday afternoon the rest of the way. They should be able to gain momentum from a performance like this take it with them the rest of the way.

And it all starts with practice tomorrow - with everybody there.