By Ruth Kramer ’18, Editor-In-Chief

Cincinnati Country Day’s girls’ varsity basketball team won their Sectional Championship last week on Wednesday February 21st. Led by senior Izzy Hensley, who scored her 1000th point this season, a team primarily comprised of freshmen fought hard and won against larger, older Mariemont. With a final score of 33-26, the game was extremely low-scoring, speaking highly to the talent and defense on both sides; however, CCDS still managed to pull out a win in their Sectional Championship.

The game took place at Wilmington high school, far away from CCD’s home court. In the warmups, the girls looked relaxed and excited for the game ahead of them. However, as they were shooting more and more Mariemont players began to step on the court and begin their warmups, thus worrying players and fans alike. Head coach John Snell, along with his brother and assistant coach Sonny Snell formulated game plans and forms of defense to beat a bigger, more experienced team. Starters for the game included freshman Kam Jordan, freshman Marley Cox, junior Tori Keller, junior Lily Farrell, and senior Izzy Hensley. From the beginning, the game was intense and tough. Only 17 points were scored in the first quarter, with nine of the being for CCDS. The second quarter was equally as difficult, with CCDS slowing down a little, only scoring eight points. At the half, both teams looked wore down and a little tired. Mariemont responded by putting in some new players, giving their starters a break. CCDS, due to their small size, was unable to do so and the starters were back out again, with a few substitutions. In third quarter, CCDS began to crumble, scaring coaches and fans. The lead was taken by Mariemont and CCDS was still exhausted from Mariemont’s ceaseless pressure and unblockable shots. By the fourth quarter, coach John Snell devised a new plan and the pieces began to come together again. After scoring eleven points in the final quarter, CCDS, who occupies the 8th seed in the tournament, pushed themselves into victory over higher ranked, seed five, Mariemont.

While CCDS has a young team, they are powerful. Freshman Sabrina DelBello was in the game for over 27 minutes and handled the ball like an expert. She also sunk the team’s only three point shot of the night while also scoring another four points for her team. Kam Jordan is another standout freshman star, scoring the most points of the evening with her final total being 13 points, also being in the game for a long time, over 28 minutes. The sole senior, Izzy Hensley, stayed in the game for over 30 minutes and contributed eight points while also getting eleven out of the team’s 25 defensive rebound. Next year Hensley will play collegiate basketball at Colorado College, a private liberal arts college located in Colorado Springs.

Next week the girls’ varsity basketball team will face off with #4 seed Madeira in the District semifinals. The game will take place at Wilmington high school at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, so come out and support an incredible team!