Girls basketball narrowly falls to St. Croix Prep on senior night

Hazel Waltenbaugh, The Rubicon|February 22, 2021

DSC_0127
Gallery|14 Photos
Jenny Ries
Seniors Maren Ostrem, Pilar Saavedra-Weis, Rashmi Raveendran, and Elaina Parsons who decided not to play basketball this year due to COVID-19 concerns, made posters to celebrate their fellow seniors.
Senior night for the girl’s varsity basketball team looked quite different this year. On Friday, February 19, the varsity team played St.Croix Preparatory Academy. Traditionally, senior nights are packed with parents and fans cheering on the players. This year, only the parents of the seniors were allowed to attend, spreading out in the new classroom above the two gyms to safely watch the game. Seniors who couldn’t play on the team this year due to COVID-19 concerns were also invited to the celebration that took place prior to tip-off.
The four seniors on the team this year are captain guard Julia Baron, point guard Jane Christakos, center Gabriella Thompson, and guard Annabelle Bond. The four other seniors who couldn’t play this year were also celebrated: Maren Ostrem, Pilar Saavedra-Weis, Rashmi Raveendran, and Elaina Parsons.
The ceremony was a sweet and emotional sentiment filled with speeches and gifts, portraying a gratifying sense of normality in a season that has felt anything but.
The game itself was a riveting watch, as the Spartans started off down by a few baskets before they hit their rhythm about halfway through the first half, going into halftime with a narrow lead of 4 points. The second half was also evenly matched, but St. Croix hit a scoring run a few minutes in, while the Spartans’ shots weren’t sinking. The Spartans kept up intense energy throughout the game though, benefiting from the excited cheers echoing down from the bridge and from their own bench. They ultimately ran into foul trouble and couldn’t get a scoring run going in the second half, ending the game with a final score of 49-38 St.Croix Prep. A big performance came from senior Gabriella Thompson who tallied 15 points, 4 blocks, and an astounding 29 rebounds in the match.