By Edwin Sam ’13, Sports Section Editor
On a fateful night when pink attire covered the fans and players in support of breast cancer, Country Day and local high school Seven Hills battled for supremacy in the heated
conference rivalry. Each school took a share of the spoils as the Lady Indians were defeated and the Boys’ Basketball team triumphed each in close, suspenseful affairs.
In the first match of the doubleheader, a match with big conference championship implications, the Girls’ Basketball team started strong and jumped to an early lead.
The game became a track meet at certain points as full court presses were constantly broken by each team’s speedy guards. Early in the match, this was an advantage for CCD as sophomore point guards Shelley and Sydney Menifee ’14 used their pace to outrun the Seven Hills press, force turnovers, and set up the highly effective pick and roll.
Though the point guards carried much of the slack, junior Cassie Sachs ’13, who eventually led all scorers with 15 points, and senior Ricci Snell ’12 provided balance for CCD who were leading by fourteen points near the beginning of the second quarter and ended the half with a 32-20 lead.
As the game wore on and players tired, coaching decisions became even more crucial. Country Day head coach, John Snell, chose to keep his starters in for most of the game while playing a physically demanding full court press. This exhausting combination cost CCD, who had played a tiring, fast-paced match the night before, as their fatigue became noticeable on both offense and defense.
Seven Hills battled back, behind sophomore guards Lauren Weems ‘14 and Alexis Lindsay ’14, to take the lead in the fourth quarter. The fitness of the Seven Hills’ guards proved instrumental as they were able to beat the Country Day press off the dribble.
After losing the lead late in the game, the Lady Indians could not overcome their fatigue and lost by a final score of 53-50.
Following the girls’ loss, extra pressure was placed on the Boys’ Basketball team to salvage a victory from the doubleheader.
As a result of the full court press and aggressive 3-2 defense implemented in the first quarter by head coach, Howard Brownstein, Country Day flew out of the gates to an early 9-0 lead. The fast start highlighted the Indians’ reliance on underclassmen, who accounted for 34 of their 42 points, the other eight points coming from breakout, multisport senior Kyle Kistinger ‘12.
After the Indians extended their lead to 11 points, Seven Hills, led by sophomore Roderick McFarland ’14, junior Alec Kagan ’13, and senior Ryan Ferrell ’12, went on a 12-0 run to end the half with a 16-15 lead.
After losing their large lead, Country Day’s players began to get frustrated with themselves and with the referee. However, the young team learned from their experience exactly one month earlier where CCD gave up a 42-21 lead to lose 60-63 to Cincinnati Christian School.
In the back and forth second half, Country Day erased a seven point deficit to lead the game by four points with about 35 seconds left in the game. Seven Hills drained a three pointer to reduce the Indians’ lead to one point. CCD relied on its youth to convert clutch free throws in the final seconds of the game and deliver the 42-37 victory.
Star underclassman guards, Caleb Tregre ’15 and J.R. Menifee ’14, ended the game with 14 and 8 points respectively. Sophomore forward Wes Mink ’14 scored 9 points and fellow sophomore Matt Fleischmann ‘14 rounded out the scoring with 3 points.
As the season drags on and each basketball team fights for the MVC championship, these rivalry matches will undoubtedly prove vital to their title aspirations. One team will look to continue their momentum while the other hopes to bounce back from a tough stretch of matches. More important than the final score will be what lessons each team learned while giving up double-digit leads and how they respond in the upcoming matches.
