On Feb. 21, 2019, the Washington girls varsity team faced off against Fort Zumwalt at Washington High School in a 55-17.

“It’s not about winning,” senior Nakya Kriebaum said, “and as long as we are doing our best and have fun, we’re good.”

At the beginning of the game, seniors Jessica Huxol and Kriebaum were recognized.

“It was really special,” Huxol said. “We put so much work over the past four years, and to get recognized in front of our friends and family, it was just special.”

In the first period, the Lady Jays fought hard but were no match for the Zumwalt Panthers, who ended the period with a 9-3 Zumwalt lead. In the second period, the Panther widened the score gap, ending the second period with a 26-7 Panther lead.

“We sometimes have struggles scoring because some defenses are things we haven’t seen before,” Huxol said, “and with a new team you kind of have to learn how each other works together, so probably our biggest struggle would be learning how to work together with one another and figure out everyone’s strengths are.”

After halftime, the Lady Jays got their second wind and began to fight harder, but after making some progress, the Panthers got their second wind, too, and pushed the score gap even further apart at 45-15.

“[To improve] I think they can continue to make more shots and work on the things we were working on all season and get better at them,” Kriebaum said.

In the final period, both sides played hard on the defense, making both teams make very little gains, but despite the Lady Jays best efforts, the Panthers were still ahead when the buzzer rang and ended the game 55-17.

“This was kind of a building era,” Huxol said, “so next year it’s gonna be more of like fundamentals and really figuring out how to work together.”