Girls’ varsity basketball sweeps rival Branson on Senior Night
By Madi Barsi
In its last regular home game of the season, the girls’ varsity basketball team swept rival Branson during Senior Night by a score of 59-26.
Seniors Kayla Rose, Carli Jacks, Natalie Moorhead and Hayden Dean, along with junior Nicki Yang, started the game to finish up their MCAL season.
Rose, Jacks and Dean have played together for more than seven years, starting at the Christian Youth Organization (CYO) level.
“We spend a lot of time together and I wouldn’t want to spend it with any other [group of] girls,” Dean said.
Co-captain Carli Jacks said the coach started all four seniors in honor of Senior Night, where coaches present roses to seniors in a ceremony to acknowledge their contributions to the team.
Although the first two quarters had a closer score, with Redwood only up 25-17 at the half, the Giants pulled ahead in the third quarter and continued to increase their lead into the fourth quarter.
“Usually, the third quarter has been our Achilles heel, but these past two games our second half, specifically the third quarter, has been our best playing so far,” Jacks said.
The Giants outscored Branson 14-9 in the third quarter, padding the lead to 13 points. The Giants proceeded to score another 20 points in the fourth quarter, rendering Branson scoreless.
Jacks scored four points throughout the game and emerged as a leading senior scorer even after an ankle injury in the third quarter after a bad fall.
“You can always trust that [Jacks] is going to go hard to the basket. You gotta just get out of the way and let her go,” Dean said.
“We compliment each other really well,” responded Jacks, in a conversation with Dean. “Hayden and Kayla are our big finishers since they’re posts.”
Boys’ varsity basketball suffers loss to Branson Bulls
By Nicole Stock
Despite the Giants’ comeback in the fourth quarter of the basketball game, they ultimately suffered a 35-41 loss to the Branson Bulls on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
The score of the game was unusually low and the Giants lacked a strong offensive attack, according to senior and co-captain Nick Laub.
“We weren’t getting loose balls, we weren’t making our shots. We weren’t hustling as hard as we could have,” Laub said.
The game began with a starting lineup made up of five out of the six seniors on the team in honor of Senior Night: Mike Sullivan, Ray James, Blake Nollenberger, Jack Miller, and Cameron Petkovich.
Following the first quarter, which ended in a 10-10 tie, the Giants trailed for the remainder of the game. Although they outscored the Bulls by three points in the fourth quarter, it was not enough to earn a victory.
“It was really exciting to see our team come together at the end, but time took a toll on us,” Laub said.
