Girls Basketball Wrap-Up: 1/15-1/21
Photos by Michelle Artibee
A good underdog story is one of the many reasons people love sports. Underdogs have many nicknames: "Cinderella Story", the "Miracle" team, and the list goes on. Avid sports followers and historians can likely name countless teams that have pulled off shocking feats in the world of sport. The first team that comes to my mind would be the 1980 USA Olympic Men’s hockey team, who defeated the Russian team in the semi-final game and would then go on to win the Gold Medal. Or the Harvard women's basketball team, who knocked off Number one seed Stanford in the 1998 NCAA Women's Basketball tournament, despite being the lowest seed there. These teams proceeded to stun sports fans, accomplishing the impossible. However, some of the greatest "underdog" stories end in disappointment, as not all stories end with the unexpected comeback or the odds being somehow defeated in the face of adversity. The Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team made it to back to back NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011 only to lose both times.The Bulldogs may not have walked away with the trophy, but they earned America’s affection and admiration for their hustle, heart and drive. In some-ways, the Butler Bulldogs’s story has parallels to our own JV and Varsity girl’s basketball teams. When state-ranked Moravia came to visit the Blue Raiders on Tuesday night, both Raider teams knew it would be a tall mountain to climb in order to beat the Blue Devils. And like so many "underdog" teams, the Raiders came up short in the end, with JV and Varsity both losing. This may have been a loss on paper, but Coach Michael Flood saw a win where effort and team-play were concerned, "Despite the final score, this was the best we played as a team all season. We handled pressure much better tonight than we have and started to have more of an inside presence. I'm really proud how hard the girls continue to work and stick together." The game saw seven varsity Raiders getting on the stat sheet, a grand feat while being up against the state-ranked Moravia team. On Friday night, both the JV and Varsity Raiders were handed another defeat by the Dryden Purple Lions. Keep working hard ladies!
