Crusaders Claim Conference Crown With 16-11 Victory at Las Vegas Day School - 2019 RRAC CHAMPIONS
It was an exciting, down to the wire game and in the end Faith came away with a hard earned 16-11 win over rival Las Vegas Day School. There is a lot of talent on each squad and both teams should be proud of their seasons. Congrats to LVDS on a great game. With this win Faith completes the season with a 10-1 record and a third consecutive Red Rock Athletic Conference Girls Division 1 Championship!
Faith was without Isabella Morrow, who was out with an injury suffered in practice the previous day but had sent an encouraging note to her teammates and was rooting them on from home. Isabella is a smart, prepared and disciplined player that contributes in a lot of ways that do not end up on the scoreboard, and she would be missed, but her teammates vowed to try and win this one for her.
These two teams had played each other twice this season already, with each home team winning by a point, so a close contest was certainly expected. These two teams delivered, with the road team Crusaders scoring the only points of the first quarter on a free throw from Evie deWit. Faith was very aggressive in the first quarter and got a key Scorpion in foul trouble, but Faith starter Abby Blake also picked up two fouls in the first period.
Things opened up a bit offensively for both teams in the second stanza, as Day School tied it on a free throw before Evie sank a trey from the left side to make it 4-1 in favor of Faith. LVDS did cut it to 4-3 but then Abby, back on the floor after the foul induced time away, got a rebound and a basket to put Faith up 6-3. Scorpion star Ayanna Waton tallied the final basket of the second quarter, and it went to the half with Faith leading 6-5. Faith PG Marin Young did some excellent work during this span, protecting the ball and getting the team into the proper offense while keeping things organized on the defensive end. Isabella Ramsey provided a spark off the bench as well, and it was attention on her that allowed Abby to sneak in and get the aforementioned basket on the putback.
Day School tied the game early in the third quarter with a free throw, and the only other scoring of the the 3rd as a layup from Riley Renteria after an excellent pass sequence from Evie and Taliynn Fox. It was great to see Riley finish off the break well, and would be a foreshadowing of some later excitement, with Riley making a big basket. Part of the reason LVDS only got one point in this quarter was the defense and the intensity of Kayleigh Downing, who fought hard against a tall and stout front line of the Scorpions, thus allowing both Abby and Evie to get some much needed rest to get them ready for the stretch run.
Faith took a 10-6 lead early in the final frame when Tai splashed a shot after a perfect inbounds pass from Shay Ghadery, and then the defenses for both teams stiffened, as there was no scoring for about two minutes. That changed when Shay was fouled shooting a three pointer, thus getting sent to the line for three shots. The good news was that Shay stepped to the line with great confidence and swished all three. The bad news was that she was called for a lane violation on the first two, negating the points, but that was still a very impressive clutch shooting display from Shay, who was a valuable and versatile part of our sucess this season, and in this game. Super proud of her for making those shots, especially the last one after being called for two violations!
Faith still had an 11-6 lead with just over three minutes to play, but LVDS was not the #1 seed in the RRAC for nothing, and they came storming back, thanks to some heroics from Watson. First, near the two minute mark she helped to force a steal and made a basket inside to cut the lead to three, and then with less than a minute left got (somewhat) open beyond the arc on the right side, and despite both Evie and Abby with hands in her face, drained a three to tie the game at 11.
The LVDS crowd was, rightly so, going nuts, but Faith broke the press with aplomb and Riley was streaking down the left side of the court, with only one person between her and the basket. On the other side of that person was Crusader Karly Schnieder, who had also freed herself up from the press. It looked like a pass to Karly, and a likely 13-11 lead, was coming, but then Riley pulled up from about 24 feet and unleashed a three.
THE BANK WAS OPEN....and it went in!!! Now it was time for the Faith crowd (which included B Team members Kaitlyn Weber, Lauryn Hollifield and Lisa Harding, who had made SIGNS!) to go ballistic, most notably one Varsity Football Head Coach who was waving his coat around like a cape when Riley drained that trey.
Two seconds after the thrill of that shot going in, Riley committed her fifth foul of the game while applying pressure, and had to leave. She walked off with a smile on her face, and said to Coach Angel and Coach Keith - "this is a good omen." Neither coach knew what she was talking about, and didnt have a lot of time to find out. Shay, as she did all season, stepped in where needed and took Riley's spot in the press defense. Abby and Tai forced a turnover near halfcourt and this time Tai did get the ball to Karly, who made a layup with less than :20 left to give Faith a 16-11 lead. It was a payoff for a great effort from Karly, who was battling a knee injury but refused to come out of the game in the 4th quarter - Krash sure showed a ton of heart in giving her all for her team.
Day School got off one more shot, but it missed, Evie grabbed the carom and got the ball upcourt to Shay, who dribbled it out for the win! Everybody was thrilled, and after the Team Prayer Karly, Riley and Tai - as they had done multiple times all season - decided to tell a story, and shared with us that as 5th grade teammates the previous year, they had come to the LVDS gym and helped their team (Mt View Lutheran) win a title, with - and we are not making this up - Riley fouling out late and Tai hitting Karly for the last basket of the game that sealed the win! Different uniforms, different foes and different teammates, but it was a case of deja vu all over again!
With the win the team finished the seaon with a 10-1 reoord and were crowned Red Rock Athletic Confernce Champions. Everyone on the team contibuted so much, and did whatever was asked of them. In 11 games we had our entire team healthy and avaialble ONLY TWICE, yet these ten girls worked super hard, and found a way to get it done. This was a team that REALLY liked to have fun, sometimes too much fun, but it worked well for them, and the proof is in the results.
So, to the silly sisters of the 2019 6th Grade Girls Basketball A Team: Marin, Isabella M, Isabella R, Kayleigh, Shay, Tai, Abby, Riley, Karly and Evie, it was a pleasure to have you represent Faith so well this season. Yes you are all a little nutty, but you are something else as well: CHAMPIONS!
Go Faith!
Back
These two teams had played each other twice this season already, with each home team winning by a point, so a close contest was certainly expected. These two teams delivered, with the road team Crusaders scoring the only points of the first quarter on a free throw from Evie deWit. Faith was very aggressive in the first quarter and got a key Scorpion in foul trouble, but Faith starter Abby Blake also picked up two fouls in the first period.
Things opened up a bit offensively for both teams in the second stanza, as Day School tied it on a free throw before Evie sank a trey from the left side to make it 4-1 in favor of Faith. LVDS did cut it to 4-3 but then Abby, back on the floor after the foul induced time away, got a rebound and a basket to put Faith up 6-3. Scorpion star Ayanna Waton tallied the final basket of the second quarter, and it went to the half with Faith leading 6-5. Faith PG Marin Young did some excellent work during this span, protecting the ball and getting the team into the proper offense while keeping things organized on the defensive end. Isabella Ramsey provided a spark off the bench as well, and it was attention on her that allowed Abby to sneak in and get the aforementioned basket on the putback.
Day School tied the game early in the third quarter with a free throw, and the only other scoring of the the 3rd as a layup from Riley Renteria after an excellent pass sequence from Evie and Taliynn Fox. It was great to see Riley finish off the break well, and would be a foreshadowing of some later excitement, with Riley making a big basket. Part of the reason LVDS only got one point in this quarter was the defense and the intensity of Kayleigh Downing, who fought hard against a tall and stout front line of the Scorpions, thus allowing both Abby and Evie to get some much needed rest to get them ready for the stretch run.
Faith took a 10-6 lead early in the final frame when Tai splashed a shot after a perfect inbounds pass from Shay Ghadery, and then the defenses for both teams stiffened, as there was no scoring for about two minutes. That changed when Shay was fouled shooting a three pointer, thus getting sent to the line for three shots. The good news was that Shay stepped to the line with great confidence and swished all three. The bad news was that she was called for a lane violation on the first two, negating the points, but that was still a very impressive clutch shooting display from Shay, who was a valuable and versatile part of our sucess this season, and in this game. Super proud of her for making those shots, especially the last one after being called for two violations!
Faith still had an 11-6 lead with just over three minutes to play, but LVDS was not the #1 seed in the RRAC for nothing, and they came storming back, thanks to some heroics from Watson. First, near the two minute mark she helped to force a steal and made a basket inside to cut the lead to three, and then with less than a minute left got (somewhat) open beyond the arc on the right side, and despite both Evie and Abby with hands in her face, drained a three to tie the game at 11.
The LVDS crowd was, rightly so, going nuts, but Faith broke the press with aplomb and Riley was streaking down the left side of the court, with only one person between her and the basket. On the other side of that person was Crusader Karly Schnieder, who had also freed herself up from the press. It looked like a pass to Karly, and a likely 13-11 lead, was coming, but then Riley pulled up from about 24 feet and unleashed a three.
THE BANK WAS OPEN....and it went in!!! Now it was time for the Faith crowd (which included B Team members Kaitlyn Weber, Lauryn Hollifield and Lisa Harding, who had made SIGNS!) to go ballistic, most notably one Varsity Football Head Coach who was waving his coat around like a cape when Riley drained that trey.
Two seconds after the thrill of that shot going in, Riley committed her fifth foul of the game while applying pressure, and had to leave. She walked off with a smile on her face, and said to Coach Angel and Coach Keith - "this is a good omen." Neither coach knew what she was talking about, and didnt have a lot of time to find out. Shay, as she did all season, stepped in where needed and took Riley's spot in the press defense. Abby and Tai forced a turnover near halfcourt and this time Tai did get the ball to Karly, who made a layup with less than :20 left to give Faith a 16-11 lead. It was a payoff for a great effort from Karly, who was battling a knee injury but refused to come out of the game in the 4th quarter - Krash sure showed a ton of heart in giving her all for her team.
Day School got off one more shot, but it missed, Evie grabbed the carom and got the ball upcourt to Shay, who dribbled it out for the win! Everybody was thrilled, and after the Team Prayer Karly, Riley and Tai - as they had done multiple times all season - decided to tell a story, and shared with us that as 5th grade teammates the previous year, they had come to the LVDS gym and helped their team (Mt View Lutheran) win a title, with - and we are not making this up - Riley fouling out late and Tai hitting Karly for the last basket of the game that sealed the win! Different uniforms, different foes and different teammates, but it was a case of deja vu all over again!
With the win the team finished the seaon with a 10-1 reoord and were crowned Red Rock Athletic Confernce Champions. Everyone on the team contibuted so much, and did whatever was asked of them. In 11 games we had our entire team healthy and avaialble ONLY TWICE, yet these ten girls worked super hard, and found a way to get it done. This was a team that REALLY liked to have fun, sometimes too much fun, but it worked well for them, and the proof is in the results.
So, to the silly sisters of the 2019 6th Grade Girls Basketball A Team: Marin, Isabella M, Isabella R, Kayleigh, Shay, Tai, Abby, Riley, Karly and Evie, it was a pleasure to have you represent Faith so well this season. Yes you are all a little nutty, but you are something else as well: CHAMPIONS!
Go Faith!
