Farewell from this Lady Dolphin…

Written by: Breanna Beck

The girls basketball team season sadly comes to an end. Although it didn’t end how they wanted it to, they had an outstanding season ending with a record of 20-6. They pulled off some impressive wins this year with such a young group of girls. The talent came from all ages and they have a lot in their future. They spent a significant amount of time on the road, traveling and taking trips to San Jose, California and Brooklyn, New York! In San Jose, California they won their first tournament game against Central (Fresno, CA) by a blowout score of 69-41. The next day they took a tough loss to the back-to-back Division V state champions, Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto, CA) with a score of 61-53. Junior guard, Kyla Jones, who received MVP from the weekend said “Both of my parents came and I’m glad I got a chance to sightsee. In the game we fell short but we’ll come back better than ever”.Their last day they ended on a good note blowing past Page (AZ) with a score of 59-32. I asked sophomore center, Cameron Williams, ironically the daughter of former NBA player Aaron Williams, how it felt to travel and get a chance to play in California. Williams said “I had been to California before but never visited that part of California. It was good weather for most of the trip and I had fun with my teammates visiting San Francisco and San Jose”. They came back to Chicago with a record of 2-1. Junior forward, Brooklynn Fort Davis, added in and said “I wish we could’ve went 3-0 but we can add this loss and take it as learning from our mistakes. Also I wanted to try In-N-Out Burger because I heard it was one of the best. It was pretty good”.

In Brooklyn, New York they played in the Rose Classic Super Jam including some of New York’s finest girls basketball teams. They won their first tournament game facing Cicero-North Syracuse (Cicero,NY) with a resulting score of 52-34. Sophomore guard, Kayla Green said “I had to lock down on defense and stop their best scorer. I also am excited that I received the Sportsmanship Award for the weekend”. The next day, they faced Jamesville-Dewitt (Dewitt, NY) and pulled off a close game with a score of 51-41. Freshman point guard, Timia Ware, said “It was nice that some former players got a chance to watch us show out and see that we are a good team.” They came back with a winning record of 2-0.

Fortunately, they’ll only be losing one player, senior point guard Breanna Beck next year. She will be attending the University of Missouri- Kansas City! Sophomore guard, Diamond Stiles, said “She is looking forward to filling a part of the void left by Breanna Beck”. They had a tough loss in a non-conference game against Nazareth with a score of 69-56. Continuing into the city playoffs a couple days later they got knocked out by Harlan with a score of 69-61. They got a chance to take time and practice so they could focus to get the right mindset before going on the state run. Going into Regionals Semi-finals, they knocked off Downers Grove North with a score of 55-43 and had an opportunity to advance. When they advanced into the Regional Championship, they faced Simeon and became Regional Champions with a victory over the 2018 City Champions Simeon Wolverines with a resulting score of 70-54. Junior guard, Fernanda Sousa said “It felt good to knock down some big time threes because I knew that’s what my team needed me to do. Recently moving from St.Louis,Missouri and being the newcomer on the team it felt good to play for a powerhouse such as Whitney Young. I can’t wait to see what holds for us next season”. Although they lost in City Playoffs, they had the best record coming out of the Red-West Conference.They were playing well but unfortunately they slightly fell short to Benet by one point with a resulting score of 66-65, losing off a free throw made with 3.7 seconds left. Senior point guard, Breanna Beck, reflecting on her last season said “It was tough going out the way I did. I learned a lot through the process and will never forget the memories. I’ll always be a dolphin. Coach Irvin is the best coach I’ve ever played for. I’ve been around for so long it’s sad to see it finally come to an end. Ending my journey here and starting new beginnings soon”. It was overall a good season and wish them the best of luck for their next season! #ShouldaBeenADolphin

-Kiddo Out..