The Tigers Fell to the Knights

The Tiger’s walked into the home of the Pope John Paul Knights late Wednesday night. The Tigers started the game off strong, getting up shots, pulling down rebounds, and challenging the Knight’s twin tower post players. In the first half, the Tiger’s found themselves in a tough position, they were over zealous on defense which led to a lot of foul calls and the Knights getting to the line early and often. Despite that, the Tigers stayed aggressive on offense and found transition opportunities in the form of layups and jump shots. The half ended with the Tigers down 2 points, 15-17. 

The second half stayed competitive, but the Tiger’s hands were tied with the amount of fouls they got, limiting minutes and line ups. Again, the Knights found themselves on the line early and often. The Tiger’s continued to break the Knights' press and had many opportunities to get easy buckets, but the Tiger's struggled catching and controlling the ball through the Knight’s physical defense. When the game started to come to a close, the Tiger’s tried to make one final push and pressed aggressively in the 4th. The Tiger’s were able to earn some great steals and got to the foul line for some free throws, which led to 9 points, but the Knights held on strong and won the game, 32-40. It was a fun and challenging game with some amazing highs and tough lows, but it’s clear that you don’t want to miss the Tiger’s play and compete in their future games! 

It was a great team effort that should make the Tiger community excited for this team's resilience and development. Everyone had multiple highlights and the team executed their defensive concepts, like “x-ing out” and helping the helper. One of the notable players of the game was Zara Campos '28. She earned 5 points and 8 rebounds while having to guard a very talented, very tall, Knight’s player and really became the team’s defensive anchor throughout this amazing game. Another notable player was Yori Crozier '29 who made her defensive wing presence known with 3 steals along with her 15 points and 4 rebounds. A final shout out to Alexandria Manoukian '28 who had to guard the Knight’s other talented, tall post player and found herself out jumping and rebounding the opponent’s in crucial plays. Despite this tough loss, you can’t help but feel excited for this team and how far they’ve come. The Tigers continue to take pride in their strengths and tackle their weaknesses head on. That competitive mindset will only push this team to new heights and greater opportunities in the future. Go Tigers!