During winter break, the girls basketball team played a couple of games in the annual Metro Holiday Tournament. They played first on Dec. 28 against the Omaha North Vikings with a 51-36 win. The girls then played against the Bellevue East Chieftains, and lost 46-53 on Dec. 30. This was a surprising loss as they had already played them in the regular season, winning 80-69. In the Omaha North game, Kimora Jenkins was their leading scorer with 15 points and in the Bellevue East game, HimayaJo Metoyer was the leading scorer with an impressive 25 points.
Against Omaha North, the girls played a dominant game with a double digit win. Gabriella Duval, a senior on the team shares what the girls did to be able to play so well during that game.
“In the North game specifically, our team came together and played for each other rather than individually,” Duval said. “This gave our players a better opportunity to display their skills and perform at a higher level.”
Though the girls may not have made as deep of a run in this tournament as hoped, there were still many things that went well for them. Jayah Freeman, a sophomore on the team, explains what the team executed well, and what she believed she performed well.
“I think our team played as a team well, we all participated and did our roles, there were moments where we had to keep our composure which is normal,” Freeman said. “For me, I feel as if my defense was pretty good throughout the tournament especially during the Bell East game, and my ability to shoot the ball.”
Duval, who also believed that they had good team chemistry in that game specifically, agrees that allowed them to play to their fullest potential. Duval also mentioned the countless hours of practice and scouting the teams helped a huge way. This tournament also showed some things that the team could work on, and Freeman explains how it can be fixed.
“As a whole our defense and communication on the court could be better, which is an easy fix. That comes within us which can be easily done,” Freeman said.
In the close loss against Bellevue East, the girls still battled hard during the second half to decrease their deficit. Once the first half had ended they were down, but they came out after and made it a close game. Freeman describes what was said in that locker room that helped the girls to find the energy to come back.
“The main things was effort and energy, we came out slow in the first half which led us to be down quite a bit,” Freeman said. “The energy from the coaches and teammates encouraging each other helped change momentum and have us lock in.”
The day of the Omaha North game, Sanai Foster, the girls starting center had a hard hit and was taken out of the game for a short amount of time to tend to her injury. Then, a couple days later, Foster was not suited up to play, and Kendyl Davis started in her spot. Freeman shares how this had an effect on their team and how they were able to adapt.
“It did not really affect our play, as we had other centers ready to step up and guards, I would say it did make us adapt,” Freeman said. “Our post is really good at what she does, so obviously having her out we had to change a little.”
With a key player out of the game, it put the team at a disadvantage. They still had to battle through their next game and Duval shares the ultimate reason in her opinion in the difference in their play against Bellevue West in the tournament and the regular season.
“When we played Bellevue East in the Holiday Tournament we were short a crucial player, and simply got out worked by the other team,” Duval said.
The Warriors had an early exit in this tournament, but they will be ready to play their next game on Friday, Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m. against the Papillion-LaVista South Titans as the away team.
