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Sports
By Patrick Browne
The Lady Trojans (1–5) returned to the basketball court on Jan. 2 after a two-week winter vacation. Rested and ready to play, the team took on the Cougars of Superior Central (2–3) and walked away with their second win of the season, 39–32
The Lady Trojans used a high-energy, relentless pressing defense that enfolded their opponent. With the Trojans’ hands up and every player on the defense moving in unison, Superior Central found fewer and fewer open shots as the game progressed. The Cougars were sent home with their fourth loss of the season.
“We had good effort on defense and that created turnovers and quick baskets for us,” Forest Park Coach Kim Bjork said.
Initially, the Trojans appeared rusty on offense and had difficulty scoring. With rapid defensive shifts, they were seemingly everywhere on the court, but they simply could not buy a basket as the game began. The Cougars, when they had open shots, made the most of them and took a first quarter lead, 17–8.
“We missed a few shots early on but we didn’t let that get us down,” Bjork said.
Forest Park roared back in the second quarter and outscored Superior Central 9–2 to go into halftime only trailing by a bucket, 19–17.
The Trojan defense, which was aggressive all game, eventually wore down their opponent and entering the final quarter, the Trojans and Cougars were tied at 24 apiece.
The fourth quarter was all Forest Park, as they outscored the Cougars 15–8. Led by sophomore Elsie Williams, who made clutch shots to keep the Trojans in the game all night, the Forest Park faithful were pleased to see the team come together in the victory.
“Our energy was high for the fourth and we came out strong,” Senior Charlie Larson said.
“Everyone contributed in some way tonight and when we were struggling to score we kept the defensive energy high,” Bjork said.
Seven Trojans contributed to the victory with Williams leading the team with 18 points, sophomore Vienna Price putting up seven, and seniors Charlie Larson and Lauren Kudwa adding four each in the effort.