Lillian Karchut

The Seneca Valley Girls Basketball team lost to Kennedy Catholic in their first basketball game on Saturday. 

On December 9th, the Seneca Valley girls’ varsity team played their first basketball game against Kennedy Catholic.  The game was played on the home court of the Seneca Valley Raiders, but unfortunately the raiders suffered a loss.   

Before the game started, the Kennedy Catholic team’s starting line-up was announced, followed by the Raiders’.  The Raiders’ starting line-up included Karlie Martin, Makenna Gross, Maddie Karchut, Gretchen Kochen, and Hailey Cramer.  Each player jumped from their seat in excitement as their name was called, and ran to Hannah Thompson to participate in a hand shake. 

The ball was dropped from the hands of the referee, both Maddie Karchut and a player from Kennedy Catholic sprung up and jumped for the ball.  Kennedy Catholic won the tip-off and both teams continued on to play a terrific game that would be the start of their season.

During the first period, both the Raiders and Kennedy Catholic ran vigorously from both sides of the court.  Filled with energy, the girls fought relentlessly for possession of the ball.  The score raised for both teams during the first and second periods.

During the second period, the coach from the opposing team, received a technical foul from the referees.  After Kennedy Catholic’s coach received his, Gretchen Kocken was given the privilege to shoot two foul shots while the other team members waited by the side line.  Gretchen made both shots and the game continued.

Toward the end of the second period, the score between the two teams was very close.  After the buzzer went off, indicating that half time was starting, both teams walked back to the locker rooms to talk with their coaches.

During the third and fourth period of the game, the score of the two teams stayed remotely close.  As the game went on, the opposing team’s score rose as the ball sunk into the net of basket.  The Raiders slowly continued to draw the score up by a few points, but in the end, the Raiders suffered a loss.

The final score of the game was 44-30, Kennedy Catholic had taken the final lead.  The game was full of fouls and shouting from both sides of the bleachers.  In total, Kennedy Catholic had committed 18 fouls and the Seneca Valley Raiders had committed 20 fouls.  For playing a team that is ranked fourth in the state, the Raiders played a great game.