On Feb. 14, Park girls’ basketball took a loss against Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Assistant coach Chris Nordstrom said after a rough start, the team found it hard to bounce back. 

“We put ourselves in a hole early on when we got down 15-0,” Nordstrom said. “Against a good team like Benilde, that’s tough to come back from. Overall, it was not our best effort.” 

Senior Stayci Spates said although the loss was an improvement from their last match against Benilde earlier in the season, she was still disappointed with the result.

“The first time we played we got 50 balled, and this time we got 40 balled, so you’ve got to take the improvement,” Spates said. “But I wouldn’t say I’m proud of our performance. Even though Benilde is a really good team, I don’t think we played to our best ability.” 

Nordstrom said that even though the team had some good moments, their performance fell short overall.

“There was some good effort, some good sequences,” Nordstrom said. “We made some good shots, but there were too many stretches where we weren’t playing good enough defense and rebounding was in their favor.” 

According to Spates, the loss was the result of a lack of teamwork and ability to carry out fundamentals. 

“We didn’t play as a team, we didn’t rebound, we didn’t do the fundamental things that we need to do as a varsity team,” Spates said. “We did not have good defense, so we couldn’t stop them from getting to the basket and getting rebounds.” 

According to junior Ruby Massie, the determination and grit of the team was what kept them in the game. 

“Despite the rough loss, we worked hard,” Massie said. “Though it was intense, we didn’t give up. That is definitely something we will take away from our performance tonight, but going forward, we recognize that we need to communicate more and put in our best effort.”

Spates said despite their struggles, the team was always responsible for one another. She  pointed out one player in particular that excelled at this. 

“One thing we did well was that we held each other accountable during the game,” Spates said. “One of my teammates, Ruby Massie, made sure everyone was in their spots and that our point guards were bringing the ball up, and because of her we did that well over the game. The best thing we did overall was holding each other accountable.”

Park will take on New Prague at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at Park.