Caption: The ball tips toward Chapel’s offense as the game begins between the PACA Varsity Girls team and Chapel. [by Dr. Cristina Meier]
by Enzo Viccari
On Thursday, September 26, the Varsity Basketball Game brought Chapel to the PACA campus for both the boys and girls teams. Both teams started off with a strong and confident approach. They played a lot, working very hard, and were encouraged by the cheerleaders who performed for both games, too.
The varsity girls game started at 5pm, after the cheerleaders gave an exciting introduction and started the night’s events with a word of prayer. PACA and Chapel kept a strong defense against each other through the first half of the game, with both sides pushing to make baskets, making some and missing other opportunities.
However, the tide turned in PACA’s favor in the third quarter when the PACA ladies surged past Chapel to get 14 points to Chapel’s 10. PACA continued to play well through the fourth quarter to earn a decisive win of 25:15.
The boys game was a very rough start for the PACA Warriors. They stumbled through the first quarter without a single basket. Chapel slowly earned points until they reached 16 points ahead by the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was a continued struggle for the Warriors until a 3-pointer finally gave PACA points for the first time in the game. However, the energy and strength was too much for them to gain a solid lead. The second quarter ended with an 11:23 score with Chapel winning.
The second half started with more energy from PACA and they began scoring more points to complete the third quarter with 18 points to Chapel’s 31. The fourth quarter started with a lot of hope for PACA. Their defense was strong.
Chapel did not score a basket for 4:30 minutes, while PACA gained three more points. However, the game ended at 8:20pm, with a disappointing score of 24:36, in spite of their efforts to get ahead of Chapel.
According to Rafael Portella, both teams played very well. He thinks the offensive strategy was good, and that the team had good team chemistry.
According to Rafael Portella, one of the varsity players on the boys team, what the boys need to improve in just one thing, the defense, every time they receive a turnover, and receive points against the other team.
“Our defense was something that was very bad, and I think this is the biggest point that we need to improve”, said Rafael Portella.
When they get the defense better, they will play very well, because they have a good defense, and a good offensive, that is the principal goal.
“If you forget the first quarter, the game was very good,” said Rafael Portella. In the second quarter, they got better in the defense, so they were too good.
