An Exciting Season for Girls Basketball Tom Beams Girls Basketball Coach
The 2012 SAS varsity girls basketball team had an exciting and successful season, compiling a 17-9 record to go with a silver medal at the IASAS tournament in Bangkok. As with any IASAS season, there were ups and downs for our team this year. We entered the season with six players returning from last year’s varsity team, but three of them were on the mend from injuries sustained over the summer or in first season sports. Fortunately for us, we had girls who stepped in and took up the slack. Our team this year was a young one, being led by lone senior, four-year IASAS participant, and team captain Emma Graddy. We also had five juniors, four sophomores, and two freshmen to round out the squad. We were fortunate enough to get two move-ins, Allena Ferguson and Tess Nelligan, and a returning student, Stephanie Chang, who all proved vital to our IASAS success. One of the highlights of the season was our trip to UWC to try and avenge an earlier season home loss. In that first home game with only ten seconds left, UWC’s point guard drove the length of the floor and gave up the ball to a teammate on the wing who hit a jump shot with four seconds left to win the game 74-72. While this was heartbreaking for us, it was a good learning experience so early in the season. Unfortunately, the result came out the same in the second game at UWC as they scored again in the final ten seconds to pull out the victory by only one point this time. However, all who attended agreed that the atmosphere and the competitiveness of the game was great preparation for IASAS. Special thanks to Eric Burnett for organizing the buses to have a bunch of SAS students there to cheer us on. Everyone was treated to a great game! With those two heartbreaking last second losses to UWC and a fourth place finish at the Hong Kong Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend behind them, the girls headed off to IASAS in Bangkok. The tournament started out well, with the SAS girls having to play against Taipei American School, a team they had played and beaten by seven points in the Hong Kong tournament. Many believed that the tournament was going to be won by SAS, TAS, or JIS, so this was to be an important game. The SAS girls came out on fire and proved to be too strong for TAS, posting an impressive 27-point victory to start the tournament. The girls continued to play well, winning each of the next three games by 20+ points. It was clear that our deep bench and ability to play all ten
of our players made it difficult for other teams to compete as the tournament wore on. Then came the final test in round robin play, a Saturday morning encounter with seniorladen Jakarta who was one of the three favorites. The contest stayed close for most of the game, but the SAS girls were able to hang on down the stretch and win by 10, finishing off a perfect 5-0 record in the round robin. Our opponent for the championship was not decided until the final game of the round robin, as Jakarta had also lost to Taipei and Taipei had been beaten by Manila. This left both with a 3-2 record, and the somewhat confusing tie-breaker rules were needed. It came down to the ISM versus host ISB game to see who we would play in the final. As it turned out, ISM was able to beat ISB, which meant Jakarta would play us in the championship. The final proved to be a tough one, as Jakarta and their three four-year IASAS players came out hitting their first three shots and six of their first eight on their way to a 12-2 lead. Even though this was a situation our girls had found themselves in before during the season, it was a lead the girls unfortunately could not overcome, losing the game by eight points in the end and finishing with the silver. Emma Graddy was honored, along with sophomore Allena Ferguson, as All-IASAS participants. Emma was again honored at our season-ending banquet as the most valuable player, while Vanessa Vargo was chosen as the Coaches Choice award recipient for her hard work and effort during the course of the season. The coaching staff would like to thank the girls for their hard work and dedication during the season. Considering this is the third coaching staff in three years, the girls came together at the right time, and represented themselves and SAS with great pride and spirit. Also, we would like to thank all the parents and family members who attended the games and made the trips to Hong Kong and Bangkok in support of the girls. Lastly, a big thanks to Kim Kriens, Mimi Molchan, and Tomo for their help and support throughout the season. With having such a young team and coming through with a 5-0 round robin record and a silver medal at IASAS, the future certainly looks bright for the SAS girls basketball team. We are looking forward to next year and all the excitement—and hopefully a return to gold—that it will bring. C rossroads | S INGAPORE A MERICAN S CHOOL
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