Week #23 - Badger Hoops Back in Action after the Snow

Dave Levy, Athletic Director
Boys Varsity Basketball - With his left hand, Isaac knocked the ball away from his defender at half court.  Using a swim move, Isaac beat him to the loose ball, positioning his body to gain possession of the ball. He took a peek at Covenant, now on his back, to assess his angle to the rim. Isaac made a decision - this was not time to lay the ball off the backboard. He extended his stride and planted his foot, rising towards the basket. His defender, right on his hip, did the same - leaping and stretching his arms to their full wing span. Covenant tried to swing those arms to the front of the cylinder, but the ball got there first, as Isaac threw the ball through the arms of his defender and then through the rim with serious force! If you didn't see it tonight, look for that dunk on SportsCenter. Absolutely epic.
Aggressive right from the opening tip, Quis knocked down an early three from the corner and Tandem took an early lead. The Badgers were strong in the opening quarter, getting the ball inside to Sean, who did a fine job playing through contact tonight, and scored several times in the post. Tandem trailed 9-5 after one, and continued to stay aggressive.
 
Mason provided strong minutes in the second, highlighted by a vicious block down low. There was great energy provided by Derion, who picked his competition up full court, matched only by the intensity of Tre'Sean and Tre, who put immense pressure on the opposing guards.
 
In the second half, Sin's defense was on display. Twice, he stole passes at the top of the key, beating the defense down the court for a lay up. On the second occasion, Sin was fouled hard, and he went right up through that contact for a tough bucket. Tre showed incredible speed - after a Quis deflection was batted into the front court, Tre outpaced the entire Covenant team, earning a key layup!
 
Keeman was incredible this evening. Earning double digit scoring, Keeman got to the rim at will - crossing over his defender and scoring at the goal. He earned trips to the line, beat his competition down the floor for easy baskets and sparked our offense in the half court. Well done, Keeman!
 
Isaac's second half was strong - the aforementioned dunk, a super deep three and a beautiful give and go off a key pass from Sean. The Badgers dealt with some foul trouble this evening, and continued to compete in the second half. Their challenging schedule continues as they take on RMA tomorrow on the road at 5:30, before returning home for a rematch with Wakefield at 5:30 on Friday. See you then.
 
Middle School Boys Basketball - Trailing by eleven, Isaiah had a beautiful steal. He threw a deep outlet pass to Eli for a layup, and he put it in smoothly. The next time down, Trenton got loose for a beautiful floater, and then Kai did the same! All of the sudden, the Badgers cut the lead to 6! This outside quartet of guards continues to be elite!
 
A few weeks back at Peabody, the Badgers started slow. Today, after two weeks of snow, Tandem came out ready to play, leading 7-6 after the first. Even without practice, we saw excellent spacing - Aven, Will and Ryan both got loose for outside shots! This allowed Jayceon to get going at the high post, and he was calling out the offense - executing a smooth euro-step move from the interior. 
 
In the paint, Gabriel, Odin and Elias were commanding with their rebounding, passing the ball out to Landon and Bo on the perimeter. Despite the long layoff, the Badgers played even better than our game a few weeks back at Peabody.
 
Middle School Girls Basketball - The Badgers opened the game on a 6-0 run, punctuated by Zoey's pressure and Sam scoring in the interior. Working together, Sam brought the ball up the court and passed to Zoey on the wing. Zuri, executing perfectly, went to the corner, before returning the ball to Zoey on the block! The team earned lots of high-quality shots this way - and had an early lead!
 
In the second quarter, Raquel took over the ball handling duties, and she was on fire. Raquel scored twice, from the same spot, about 17 feet away. Defensively, Hattie was all over her competition, forcing them to pick up their dribble. When Peabody tried to pass to the block, there was Cypress, with steal after steal. Cypress is so quick on the back line!
 
Leading by four at the half, the Badgers turned to Zuri yet again, who was able to score inside. Our interior presence was incredible - Zuri and Cora each had eight rebounds, and threw strong outlet passes to Sam and Raquel, handling the ball. Late in the third quarter, Sunrise got the ball on the block. I told her yesterday that I had a crystal ball that told me Sunrise would score today - and she obliged - the result of a lot of hard work!
 
While there were zero free throws in the game, and a true lack of foul calls throughout, Tandem kept our composure. Peabody rallied in the fourth quarter, taking the lead. The Badgers continued to find great scoring chances - Zuri on the block, Zoey at the foul line - Sam on a drive! As I told the team after the game, that's what you practice for - great execution, excellent shot selection, terrific effort and a lot of fun!   
Back
Tandem Friends School is a co-ed Quaker day school for grades 5-12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
 
Copyright 2016 Tandem Friends School