The Dragons lose with pride, but have high hopes for the future

Courtesy of Tom Henning

Although the HSMSE Girls Varsity Basketball team lost to the Institute for Collaborative Education on Friday December 9th, 2011 by 13 points, they had an improvement in their offense. They also had indicators of what needed to be done to go forward and achieve more wins.

Normally, 16 points would be a low score in basketball, but it is a good sign for the Dragons. In their previous two games, they only had six points each game and a combined total of six offensive rebounds. "I think it's a great improvement. I see a lot of us trying harder now and being more focused and putting in more energy and taking time to see what's happening," said Leah Cabrera. They made more shots with the opportunities that they had, including two three-pointers that helped boost their offense.

The game also gave some hints on what to improve in the future. There was only two offensive rebounds, which obviously will not get them far. "A shot goes off and some people are just kinda watching the person shooting, which is typical of high school basketball, but I think it's a problem," said Nick Diunte, the coach of the Dragons. They also need to improve their passing game if they want to continue to improve. Their weak passing game has caused turnovers and has resulted in the ball being easily intercepted. "I feel like we just have to get stronger and more accurate passes and that'll help get the game flowing better," said Donna Fintzi.

Despite their loss, they have made vital improvements and now know what they need to do to progress further. The loss will also not have an impression on their future games. Donna said, "We're improving ... I think we tried our hardest."