The Lincoln Log

The Lady Mustangs attempt to shoot a basket while jumping in mid-air.

Through precision, determination, and teamwork, Abraham Lincoln High School’s girls’ varsity basketball team dominated the semifinal match against International Studies Academy on Feb. 23. It was exciting to see the team get this far and win; now the mustangs are off to the championships.

“The significance of the game was that it was the first round play-off game or quarterfinals, and if we had lost it would have been the end of our season,” senior captain Lisa Mizuiri said. “But we won, so we’re advancing to the semifinal or second round play-off game on Feb. 27 against Washington High School.”

The final score was 65-42, favoring the Lincoln mustangs. The intense game was very close until the fourth quarter. The two teams caught up with each other multiple times, but at the end it was Lincoln who came out on top.

“We would get a lead and then they’d come back, and the difference was us winning by 2 points at the end of the third quarter,” Mizuiri said. “This made some people worry because we had let other players back into the game, but in the fourth quarter our team just went on a hot streak, both offensively and defensively.”

The girls noted that the most effective strategy that helped the team win was their ability to keep up with the opponents.

“We were able to contain their two main scorers, which really helped us pull into the lead,” Mizuiri said. “The key things to our success were our ‘hounding’ and ‘up in your face’ defense, which I think frustrated the other team, so we got more steals or they would turned it over more often.”

As the lady mustangs scored and defended the points for our side, our lady ballers showed off their fabulous plays. In this game, every member on the team worked well together. Junior guard Taylor Chow led the hussle the whole time she was in. She went after every ball and caused many jump balls with people who much taller than her.

Sophomore guard Kelly Huey and freshman guard and forward Hallie Menesis led the game by bringing the ball up, finding open players, passing the ball in holes between players, and shooting baskets.

This team deserved the win, because some girls played through sicknesses, injuries, and still pushed each other during the game. They gave 100 percent and had a great success.

On Feb. 28, Lincoln played again in the semifinal match against Washington High School. The mustangs unfortunately didn’t come out on top in this game, losing the match with a score of 56-34. They played to the end, and went very far. They should be applauded for their efforts.