Persevering through hard times: Girls basketball highlights from last week
The Carlisle girls basketball team brought the heat in a home matchup against longtime rival, Cumberland Valley, on Tuesday, January 17. Going in with a 6-7 record, and coming off a road loss to Harrisburg, the team faced a four-game losing streak. Ultimately, the girls pushed together, giving their all against the Lady Eagles, but fell to their opponents with a 37-52 loss.
This was not the first time these two teams met for the season, in December the Lady Herd struggled in a closer matchup falling 45-52 to CV.
Throughout Tuesday night’s game, the Lady Herd maintained a strong defense, guarding and pressuring as much as possible. It was only towards the end of the second and fourth quarters when Carlisle began to pick up some offensive momentum, but it wasn’t enough to surpass Cumberland Valley.
“We wanted to work on shutting down their main scorers, and we did well on that during the first half, [but] offensive wise, [we need] better transitions,” said senior Maliya Kellam.
The Lady Herd were the first to score with a three pointer by senior Yasmine Abu-Aideh, scoring 15 of the team’s 37 points against the Lady Eagles.
After suffering from another loss to CV, the losing streak that the team faced extended to five games. The other losses came from State College, Altoona, Central Dauphin, and the above-mentioned Harrisburg.
Junior Olivia Baldwin said, “[The streak] puts more pressure on the games we have coming up, but still motivates us to keep going at it.”
Not only was the team on a low from the losing streak, they were also missing key player Ryleigh Poole from an ankle injury, allowing other players to step up and lead the team.
The perseverance these girls have was evident in their next home match on January 20 against Central Dauphin East, where the losing streak was broken with a dominating win over the Lady Panthers.
Carlisle’s offense outshined CD East’s, working better together on Friday night than on Tuesday. Stronger passing and communication along with the already solid defense, contributed to a 60-33 win for Carlisle.
Head coach Kelsey Stasyszyn said, “We look to run the floor and push the ball up the floor as quick as possible. On the other end we hang our hats on defense and try to use our athleticism to our advantage.”
After the two games last week, Carlisle Girls Basketball holds onto a 7-8 record before they travel to Chambersburg tomorrow, January 24.
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Hannah Stoner is a senior at Carlisle High School. She is excited and proud to be returning to the Periscope staff for her fourth year as journalism has...
