Blair varsity girls’ basketball comes up short against Walter Johnson

Blair’s Varsity Girls’ Basketball team (11-4) lost to the Walter Johnson Wildcats (8-7) by a score of 48-45 on Wednesday night. Throughout the game, the Blazers struggled to counter Walter Johnson’s shots, missing many scoring opportunities and making only 17 out of 60 shots. 

Within the first few minutes of the game, Blair had a narrow lead of 9-5. However, after bad passes that led to turnovers, a couple fouls and five missed scoring opportunities, Blair began to falter. From this point onwards, Walter Johnson started their scoring rampage, scoring 14 unanswered points. Shots by freshman guard Natalie Frost, junior guard Kate Hildebrandt and senior guard-forward Lucy Martin raised Blair’s score, but missed baskets left Blair unable to close the score gap and kept Walter Johnson in the lead. The Blazers were trailing 29-18 at halftime. 

Third quarter marked Blair’s comeback, with senior guard Zoe Abramson and freshman guard Amelia Martin leading powerful defense, which limited Walter Johnson’s baskets. The Blazers subsequently scored 16 points with their newfound aggression. “With us obviously being down at the beginning, I think it made us play with a lot of urgency to get back in, and I think you saw that in the third quarter. We then came out with a lot of energy and took the lead”, Abramson said. Blair was ahead 38-35 with 2:16 left in the quarter. By the end of the quarter, the score was tied 38-38. 

The fourth quarter was tense as Blair pushed to secure a victory. Shots were made by both teams as they each attempted to pull ahead. Additionally, there were numerous fouls that led to free throws on both sides. With 50.5 seconds left in the game, the score was once again tied at 45-45. The crowd cheered loudly for the Blazers as they hoped for a home court win. Unfortunately, two fouls by Blair led to free throws that pulled Walter Johnson up to a total of 48 with 10 seconds left. At this point, the Blazers knew they needed a three-pointer to win. Two missed attempts ultimately led to Blair’s 48-45 loss. 

Abramson noted that the team needs work towards playing with the same determination throughout the entire game. “ I think that maybe we got a little comfortable when we were up at certain points. Like right at the beginning of the game, we kind of let them take over, and once we got up, they came up again. We need to keep playing with the same amount of energy as if we were down,” she said.

The Blazers will play their next home game on Tuesday, February 11th against the Winston Churchill Bulldogs at 7:15 p.m.