By all accounts the Blair girls' varsity basketball team should have imploded. It was a season of bad breaks; with three projected starters lost before the season, bad play and a seven-game losing streak, most teams would have unraveled. But in what would be the final game of a turbulent season the Blazers showed up, freshman point guard and all.
Those who believe Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a product of fiction never watched Blair's girls basketball team. In the first half of tonight's contest against the Churchill Bulldogs the Blazers hardly resembled the team that lost to the same opponent by 19, there offense was smooth, their defense smothering, and their poise unwavering. But as the fourth quarter dawned the solid effort quickly deteriorated into a turnover-laden collapse, and the Bulldogs capitalized. The late-game spurt was enough to propel Churchill to a 60-54 victory and drop the Blazers to 5-14 on the year.
With 1:22 remaining in the third quarter it looked as if Blair's girls basketball was on there way to huge, momentum-changing home victory over the Sherwood Warriors. They were sitting on a 16-point advantage and enjoying a career night from their star forward, senior co-captain Cate Rassman. Fast forward nine minutes and that elation was turned to shock, as the Blazers watched the game, and quite possibly the season, slip away courtesy of a Sherwood jump shot at the buzzer. The 49-48 loss was another crushing blow in what has become a season of disappointments for the Blazers, now 4-13 and on a seven-game losing skid.
A new year is supposed to bring a new beginning, a clean slate, an opportunity to cast off the disappointments of the last twelve months and start anew with optimism and gusto. For Blair's girls basketball team 2006 has been anything but. With an embarrassing 28-48 loss to the Whitman Vikings the Blazers completed an 0-for-January and extended their losing streak to six games. From the onset Blair couldn't find their offensive rhythm, and what resulted was a sluggish and sloppy performance that dropped their season record to 4-12.
After 32 minutes of fast-paced, spine tingling basketball the 12-point deficit on the scoreboard didn't seem to do Blair's girls basketball team justice. The undermanned Blazers came up on the short end of a thrilling back and forth contest against the Walter Johnson Wildcats, an effort not reflected in the 62-50 final score. On a night when superstars were in the spotlight, Walter Johnson's sophomore sensation Alex Chili shone a bit brighter than Blair's senior co-captain Cate Rassman in an exhilarating offensive duel. The defeat, the Blazers second in a row,
Two weeks of road games will make any team appreciate their home floor, and Blair's girls' basketball team is no exception. Playing in their first home contest since Dec. 22, 2005, the Blazers looked comfortable and confident in a solid 48-43 win over the Magurder Colonels. It was a momentum-changing victory for a Blair squad that halted a three-game losing streak and improved their record to 4-6 on the season.
DEC. 6, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM —
Dubbed the leader of the new anti-war movement, Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a marine killed in Iraq last April, had attracted a swarm of media to her roadside ditch in Crawford, Texas, and now to her new nationwide bus tour. But by calling for an immediate end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq, Sheehan has offered peace advocates a rallying cry and little else. Hers is a simple solution to a complicated problem, and this liberal has no qualms with admitting that Sheehan's judgment is fatally flawed.
And on a cold winter night I might see above the glare of streetlights a lone bright star, a blazing beacon overhead, and I'll wonder, does it shine for me?
Every morning, 3,000 students plod toward their morning classes. Eyes half-open, they find their seats and begin a 90-minute struggle to stay awake. Desks become pillows as many tune out and drift off into the dreamland that was cut short by their 6 a.m. alarms. Blazers are dozing through their education, and no one seems to care enough to fix the problem.
Hip-hop is more than a sound; it is the voice of a generation. It is a way of life: The beats are captivating, the words are poetic and the result is as raw as the inner-city streets from which it emerged.
It was such a non-issue in the presidential election that you may not even think George W. Bush has an environmental agenda. In his 2004 State of the Union Address, he failed to mention the topic even once. But hidden behind the tint of a Code Orange world, President Bush does have a plan, a plan that will destroy our world of green quickly, quietly and permanently.
Blair's girls' tennis team came into this season focused on one goal: staying in Division I. Still stinging from last season's winless campaign in Division I, the Blazers came into a Sept. 21 showdown with division rival Magruder hungry for success and came away with the victory that would eventually keep them in Division I for another year.
OCT. 11, BLAZER COURTSBlair's girls' tennis team lost just seven games today and did not lose a single set en route to a 7-0 pounding of the woeful Wheaton Knights. The victory ended a three-match losing streak, Blair's longest of the season, and improved the Blazers' record to 6-5.
OCT. 6, BLAZER COURTS—The Churchill Bulldogs dismantled the Blair girls' tennis team today 7-0 and dropped the Blazers record to 5-4 on the year. Churchill, the defending state champions and holders of an undefeated record, breezed by an overmatched Blair squad in under two hours.
The Blair girls' tennis team continued its hot start today, beating the Paint Branch Panthers 6-1 and improving their record to 5-2. The Blazers breezed by their Division II opponents en route to their fourth victory in the last five matches.
SEP 23, BLAZER COURTSPlaying their third match in as many days, the girls' tennis team was decisively beaten today by a talented Wootton squad 6-1. The loss was the Blazers second in their division and drops their overall record to 4-2.
SEP 21, BLAZER COURTSBlair's girls' tennis squad won a crucial divisional match today against the Magruder Colonels 6-1, improving their record to 3-1 on the year. The convincing win broke a three year losing streak against Magruder and greatly increased the Blazers chances of remaining in Division I next year.
The defending state champion Quince Orchard Cougars soundly defeated the Girl's Volleyball team today in straight sets 25-7, 25-16, 25-15 to send the Blazers to a season-opening loss. The Blazers, who were missing three key players, were overpowered by a Quince Orchard squad who went undefeated last season and is slated at number nine in the preseason rankings by The Washington Post.