6th graders win, but also lose

The 6th grade girls title defense took a huge hit Saturday when Kaela was injured midway through the 2nd quarter in a 9-8 win.

She left the game right after colliding with a girl on the opposite team during a fast break and is out indefinitely. There is no timetable on her return.

Before the collision, Kaela was having a strong game, scoring all seven of her team's points.

They were leading 7-4 at the time, so there was not much offense the rest of the way.

Lily threw a block party and recorded at least 10, if not more blocks, swatting away almost every shot taken in the key. Defensively, she was the hero clogging up the paint and making it difficult for the other team to get off good shots.

On the other hand, the offense really struggled without Kaela.

Michaela was the only regular ball handler left, and had trouble, especially in the second half, taking care of the basketball.

Up against a three girl press, Michaela would try to dribble through three girls almost repeatedly and pretty much every time she tried, she got stuffed.

She did break free in the 4th quarter a few times and hit a shot which gave them a much needed cushion.

After Michaela's made basket, the other team scored four straight and almost won it with a shot under 10 seconds to go in the game. A jumper rattled in and out, and the girls made a defensive stand with 3.4 seconds left to seal it.

Now it gets interesting because the girls will likely have to play without the reigning St. Mary's Girls MVP for the near future.

It'll be a brand new experience for all of the girls, as everybody on the team is going to have to step up their game to replace Kaela.

Throughout the course of this past year, the rest of the team, even when they were winning relied too much on Kaela. Now they will have no other choice.

One sign of encouragement they can look to is that they won last year's championship when Kaela was held scoreless.

And for the time being, Kaela will remain scoreless, and it'll be up to everybody else to compensate.