Recently, the girls varsity basketball team outplayed a tough competitor, Cardozo, winning by nearly 20 points, resulting in a score of 40-21. This put Townsend Harris in 3rd place in their league division, with 6 wins and 2 losses, tying with Cardozo’s record. This match is the first of the three consecutive matches that the THHS girls basketball team must face during the brutal month of January, after a relaxing winter break. With this first successful match, it adds a beacon of hope to the fellow THHS team for a successful rest of the season.
The difference in the score was pretty wide, considering the team barely defeated other tough competitors like Flushing High School and William C. Bryant within the range of 10 points. Senior guard Meraldina Ziljkic explained that “their [Cardozo] defense was decent, but our offense was much better, so we were able to capitalize.”
Senior captain Debra Chan agreed, saying that Cardozo was not as strong as last year. “They did lose a few strong players and this year they didn’t use their players to their full potential.”
Most players admitted that nothing differently was done in order to prep for this game. However, junior forward Tanja Miketic thought that the spirit of the team was somewhat higher than usual.
“I think that we had a more positive mindset and the team chemistry was high because we just came back from spending our Christmas break practicing in the gym together and going to a holiday tournament in Manhattan. We came back from the break refreshed and stronger than ever,” she observed.
Despite their accomplishment, players still saw room for improvement. Although she received praise for her performance, Tanja conceded, “Personally, I want to improve on boxing out, rebounding, and getting back on defense quicker.”
Believing their competitiveness to be at risk, freshman guard Audrey Phung felt a better team effort was needed. “I think we should try to find more scoring options. Almost all of our points come from the same 2-4 players, so when they aren’t doing well, it causes problems,” she said.
Meraldina found inspiration from her fellow Cardozo rivals, noting how they used their time to waste the energy of the Hawks by moving the ball. Additionally, she said, “We tend to only run for a few seconds off of the clock and then take a shot, which doesn’t make the opposing defense work hard to guard us.”
As the season progresses, the THHS basketball members hope that the team will make it into the playoffs.