Country Day’s  girls basketball team lost 39-10 to Pine Hill Adventist on Nov. 30 in the first game of the season.

“They played OK for the first game,” said coach Latonia Pitts. “We have lots of room for improvement, but I think we have a good upside,” she said, referring to the team’s performance in the fourth quarter.

The team held Pine Hill to six points, which was a good starting point for future games, Pitts said.

She plans to work with the team on fundamentals and understanding the game, as well as adding game-like situations to the team’s practice.

“If we play that way moving forward, we will be alright,” she said.

The team began the game with a slow first quarter, unable to score points, but began picking up momentum after a successful free throw in the second quarter. 

Junior point guard Sage Spradlin, who made the shot, said it was a personal highlight.

“I was so excited. I never make free throws,” she said. “I feel like it kind of broke the barrier. You just got to get one shot in and then we started getting more up.”

Senior small forward Tina Huang also scored (2 points) during the game, as did sophomores Rachel Pirie (1 point), Annalucia King (2 points)  and Imani Cochran (2 points) and freshman Cara Shin (2 points). 

Huang said the game was a learning experience.

“A good amount of us haven’t played or haven’t played since COVID-19,” she said. “This is just our warm up game.”

Spradlin also said the game was affected by their inexperience.

“We haven’t had a chance to run a lot of the plays,” she said. “This was our opposing team’s second game, and it was our first game in the season.”

Despite the setback, Spradlin is happy with the team’s performance.

“Once we got into the groove of things, we communicated a lot better,” she said. “We were able to get the ball around and get more shots off.”

Before their next game, Spradlin hopes to improve her ball handling skills, as well as solidify the team’s positions on the court.

“I definitely want to work on trusting each other more as a team and getting to where we need to be so that we can work together to win games,” she said.

The Cavs’ next game is Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. at home against Stoneridge Christian.

— By Samhita Kumar