6th grade girls come close, but ultimately fall short in championship

The 6th grade girls' quest for a championship fell short Friday night

Two huge keys coming into the championship game for the 6th grade girls were making lay-ups and boxing out.

They had trouble doing both consistently Friday night, and lost 18-13 in the championship.

They took a 2-0 lead minutes into the game when Fiona looked like she set the ball, volleyball style, into the net to give the girls a quick lead. But the other team scored 7 unanswered points the rest of the first half and put the girls in a 7-2 hole at halftime.

The girls had several opportunities to pad their 2-0 lead in the first half, but missed at least three wide open lay-ups by the basket. Had they converted on any of those opportunities, it might've been an entirely different game.

Instead the score stayed at 2-0 until late in the 1st quarter, as the other team got one of their many offensive rebounds on the night, scoring on and a basket and foul to make it 3-2 after the end of six minutes.

Their shooting woes were apparent in the first half, their Achilles heel all season long. They had their share of good looks, but just like in many of their other games, they just weren't able to score.

Defensively, they were decent, but not anywhere close to their suffocating style of play last week in the playoff game.

Starting the game, they did generate a lot of turnovers to create fast breaks but weren't able to convert on them.

Those opportunities decreased as the game went on as the other team adjusted and took care of the ball a lot better than they did to start the game.

Ball security for the 6th graders was not very good for the most part. For a championship game, there were way too many lob passes including one in the 3rd quarter that absolutely killed the momentum the 6th graders had.

To start the second half, Jamie hit consecutive shots to pull the girls within 7-6. But an egregious turnover off of a lob pass led to a fast break lay-up for the other team.

Down 9-6, Rebecca made a nice move in the half court, driving to the basket to make it once again a one point game.

The other team went on a 5-0 run to start the 4th quarter to make it 14-8 with about 3:31 to go.

A Victoria free throw and a Lesly put-back once again cut the lead in half and it was a one possession game with less than two minutes to go.

But twice, the girls couldn't convert on offense, and the other team went coast to coast on two straight possessions and put the game away.

Lesly did hit a nice jump shot to cut the lead back to 5, but that's as close as they got.

In a nutshell, the other team converted on their lay-ups and easy shots, the 6th graders did not.

And so it goes for the 6th grade girls who wrap up a memorable year to say the least.

None of the girls had ever played in a pressure packed game until last week, and even tonight was a brand new atmosphere for everybody.

It didn't look like the girls were too nervous for the most part as their game played out like most of their games this season. Early on, jitters probably could've attributed to some missed easy shots, but after that, the game became just a game.

One thing the girls certainly have proved is their ability to fight back. Twice in the game they were down by a few shots, but both times they were able to make it a one possession game.

Their coach Leslie pointed out after the game their mindsets and confidence are a lot better than they were a year ago. Now they have reached a level where they expect themselves to win and expect nothing less, a complete 180 of a turn from year past when they automatically gave themselves a loss even before the ball was tipped.

This was a game the girls could've won, but the difference between winning and losing in the playoffs or championship can come down to just a handful of plays.

One missed lay-up by the 6th graders, and one made lay-up by the other team. A missed box-out, a bad pass, an air-ball. And on the grandest stage of them all, a championship, everything that happens during a game as big as this is magnified.

Now the question becomes where do the girls go from here.

They will move up a division next season and face a lot stiffer competition next year. So the girls are going to have to work even harder if they want to get back to the big dance again.

But all in all, it was a fantastic season for these 9 girls, who in just a span of a few months, transformed and took their game to another level.

Now they'll have about 9 months to bring it even higher.

And if there's a team that could do it, it's them.