Wednesday, December 17, 2014 by Aidan Joly
A fourth quarter comeback wasn’t enough for the girl’s Varsity basketball team to get it close against Columbia.
The Columbia Blue Devils girl’s varsity basketball team defeated the Blue Streaks girl’s varsity team on Tuesday night at Saratoga Springs High School by a score of 54-43, in which the Devils were lead by Nastasja Johnston, who had 14 points, 12 of them coming in the first half, during which the Devils scored 28 points in total. Johnston also added nine rebounds, a season high.
“We came out slow and sluggish, and not very intense,” Streaks head coach Robin Chudy said after the game.
Columbia head coach Jabari Holder said of the Blue Streaks’ late-game comeback, “They kept playing. Give Saratoga credit. They didn’t quit for one second.”
The Streaks were down by 14 at the half, then 23 at the end of the third quarter, and were able to get the deficit down to nine points with a little less than three minutes left in the game. They ende up falling by 11 after a few successful free throws by Columbia late in the game.
“I was thrilled by the way the played, how they battled back, how they didn’t give up, and that’s all I can ask for,” Chudy said of the fourth quarter.
Saratoga’s leading scorer was junior Julia O’Brien who had eight points. Nakaela Elliot had seven and Maddie Klotz matched that. The Blue Devils high scorers behind Johnston were Sarah Jaromin, who had nine, and Selena Lott with six points. Lott fouled out of the game with 4:03 left in the third quarter.
“Columbia’s very competitive… they’re one of the top teams in the area… but I was thrilled that we played as competitively as we did,” said Chudy.
Many turnovers on both teams created a very sloppy game, with 42 fouls combined for both teams. Julia Sovey also fouled out shortly after Lott. Maddie Chudy on the Blue Streaks had four fouls.
Jaclyn McGlynn on the Blue Devils suffered a knee injury with 5:11 remaining in the game and did not return. Holder said he fears that it could be season ending for her. She had two points in her limited action.
Chudy was called for a technical foul in the third quarter for arguing with a call by a referee.
“It was a little bit of motivation and a little bit of frustration,” she said about the incident.
The Streaks JV team defeated Columbia’s JV team by a score of 67-53 earlier in the evening. The boys’ basketball team will be in action at home on Friday against Mohonasen, while the girls’ team will return to home play December 29 taking on South Glens Falls in a non-league game after away games against Mohonasen and Shenendehowa.
Aidan Joly is a freshman covering sports for The Lightning Rod.