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Girls Basketball Continues Its Season-Long Streak of Success

With a record of 11-5, Girls Basketball is continuing to prove their legitimacy as they become more and more of a complete, all-around team. After hanging with both Parkway Central (who they lost to by 29 points last year) and Parkway North, two of the top girls teams in the area, the only thing the Wildcats were frustrated with was that they weren’t able to close either game out. They simply didn’t have the size to match up with Central’s two post players, who average a combined 22.8 points per game, but then against North, Brooke Highmark, Kristen Keys, and Kiley McKee combined to shoot just 10-37 from the field and the Wildcats fell short by six points.

They headed into this week with three games to play; one on Tuesday against Visitation, another on Thursday at Timberland, and the last on Friday against Principia.

Visitation had a record of 4-13 coming into Tuesday. They were handed their fourteenth loss by a margin of 20 points. After holding Visitation to just two points in the first quarter, Westminster led 24-13 at half. Macey Lottmann led the Wildcats with 11 points on 3-4 shooting from three point range, and Westminster won 53-33.

“We played well against Visitation,” said Lottmann, “They aren’t an amazing team, so we went out and did what we were supposed to.”

Thursday’s matchup Timberland, a much bigger school, was no different. Timberland had a record of 2-12 entering the game, and Westminster’s offense was no match for the Wolves. Kristen Keys and Kiley McKee combined for 28 points, and the Wildcats ran away with a 35-point victory, 59-24.

Friday’s game against Principia should give the Wildcats their third win of the week. Although the Panthers are 8-5 on the season, the level of competition they’ve faced has been subpar. The Wildcats should win at home on “Basketball Fights Cancer” night, which supports childhood cancer research through Alex’s Lemonade Stand, and boost their record to 12-5 for the season.

Sixteen games in, Girls Basketball is performing as well as they could’ve hoped to before the season began. They’ve been to two tournament championship games and won one. They’ve beaten teams they lost to last year, and hung around with teams they got killed by. They have ten games remaining on the schedule until Districts, and they should be favored in all of them except against Kirkwood, their final game of the season.

“I kind of expected our season to be like this,” said Kiley McKee, “We have a good record, but not too good.”

As the season continues, new players have become more and more important to the team. Carlie Vick, the six-foot Freshman, has averaged 8.5 points per game in the last four games.

The team has also played more than a month without starting point guard Reilly Brophy, who suffered a foot injury in December and has been on the sidelines ever since. She hopes to return before the season is over and provide even more depth to an already skilled lineup of guards.

“Even though the season has been cut short for me, I am really proud of how much we have worked to improve from the beginning of the season,” said Brophy.

She also attributes the team’s success so far this year to hard work as a group.

“We have constantly been in the gym, even on weekends and snow days, getting up shots and improving our defense, and it shows,” she said.

The Wildcats play on Friday at 5:30 PM in the first game of Basketball Fights Cancer Night against Principia.