Girls’ basketball loses to Orono
Rematch expectations fall short
February 13, 2022
Falling to Orono Feb. 11 with a final score of 74-41, coach Arsenio Richardson said that a lack of intensity contributed to the loss.
“I thought we were going to be able to compete better,” Richardson said. “Tonight, we just absolutely didn’t come out and compete. We just weren’t ready to go.”
After a close 70-69 loss against Orono Jan. 11, according to sophomore Kiya Hegdahl, the number of players available for this game factored into the point disparity.
“Last game (against Orono), we were extremely short-handed; girls that played JV and usually don’t get varsity minutes, got them. And tonight, we weren’t short handed. But last time, because we were short handed, we played with better effort,” Hegdahl said. “The only good thing about tonight was it was our fault that we lost. They didn’t do anything special. So it was just (our) attitude and effort.”
Given the amount of practice the team had prior to the game, Richardson said he didn’t expect a loss, but equally shoulders the blame for it.
“When our team isn’t ready to play, I put that on me,” Richardson said. “We had a decent week of practice. I thought we’d be ready to go. Obviously, as you’ve seen, we weren’t ready to go.”
According to sophomore Evie Schmitz, going forward, the team needs to focus on teamwork to achieve victory.
“We need to play for each other and get a win. We need a win right now. Especially because we’re in the middle of our conference right now, a win would help us,” Schmitz said.
Disappointed by the loss, Hegdahl said there were very few redeeming qualities from the game,
“ I don’t think there was anything we did well tonight,” Hegdahl said. “Genuinely, it was just a ripple effect — it was just contagious. That can’t happen this late in the season.”
With an upcoming match against Benilde-St. Margaret’s Feb. 15, Richardson said the team needs to focus on performing well in the future and not fixate on past games and their outcomes.
“Benilde’s super tough. So, if we come out just average, it could be the same result; we could lose by 30,” Richardson said. “We just have to be able to rebound from here and be ready to go.”
Park’s next game is against Benilde-St. Margaret’s 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at home.
