Nervousness and frustration was all that could be seen on the season opener West Fargo girls basketball game against the Shanley Deacons. With 14 turnovers in the first half, the No.1-ranked Packers were still trying to hang on out on the court even with the Deacons leading 32 -19 at halftime.
Even though the team never did have a large enough comeback to defeat Shanley, the team stayed strong.
“I think we kept with it and kept fighting through it,” senior Lexi Lennon said. “Even though it wasn’t going our way we still never gave up.”
With the emotional week of the loss of three classmates, the team was not quite up to speed for the first game of the season.
“It’s hard the first game to be perfect,” senior Christine Baltezore said. “It’s been kind of a rough week for everybody so I think it will just take time.”
Head coach Barb Metcalf said Shanley outplayed the girls.
“The team has been through a tough roller coaster of emotion within the past week,” she said. “They are mentally drained. When they are mentally drained, they aren’t going to make the best decisions.”
Although the team knew fourth-ranked Shanley would be a difficult game, and eventually the Packers concluded with a loss of 56-47, the girls are still able to take a learning moment from their season opener.
“This was just a momentum builder,” Lennon said. “We are ready to get at it again and show people what we actually have because tonight we didn’t do that at all.”