Girls Basketball: Huskies Can't Overcome Powerful Bulldogs

Facing one of the toughest teams in the Independent School League, Flint Hill School battled until the end of their game Thursday against Bullis School only to come up short 46-36.

The Huskies kept the game close up until the fourth period, but defensive mistakes allowed for the Bulldog offense to surge to secure the win.

At their best defensively in the first half, the Huskies effectively suppressed the Bulldog offense to keep the score 12-10 entering halftime.

"This team likes playing defense, which is a dream for a coach," said Jody Patrick, head coach of the Huskies squad. "They have a real fire to them. They just play hard."

Alex Long, who posted a total of 14 points, started the second half with a 3-pointer for the Huskies to put them in the lead for the first time. The Huskies and Bulldogs would toss the lead back and forth for the first four minutes of the third period, but the Bulldogs secured the lead with a score of 16-15 with 4:28 left in the period.

The Huskies were down 30-18 with just over a minute left in the period. After a layup from Long, two foul shots from Caroline Shaw and a buzzer-beating jump shot from Alison Bragaw-Butler after Shea Patrick made a steal, the Huskies cut their deficit in half heading into the fourth period.

Bragaw-Butler led her team with 18 points.

Within two minutes of the fourth, the Huskies cut the deficit to two points, but the rest of the fourth period belonged to the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run over the next couple minutes to be answered by one foul shot before going on another 4-0 run to further solidify their lead, finally overcoming the Husky defense for the 46-36 victory.

"The difference after the game was at 30-28 was really their offensive rebounding and the lack of our defensive boxing out," Patrick said. "We boxed out well up until then, but not after that. We're not going to outjump them, so we had to box out."

The Huskies (6-4) will host Bishop O'Connell at 2:45 p.m. Saturday.

Husky Points Scored: Alison Bragaw-Butler (18), Alex Long (14), Katherine Doyle (2) and Caroline Shaw (2)

Boys Earn Road Victory

The Huskies boys basketball defeated St. Andrews 78-53 on their road trip Thursday night.

Junior guard Chrystian Brown led five guys in double-figures with 17 points as the Huskies improved to 7-4 with a 78-53 victory at St. Andrew's. The win also improves the Huskies Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference to 2-0.

Senior forward Brian McDonald contributed 13 points and 6 rebounds, while senior guards Trevor Ogundepo and Troy Thomas scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Sophomore guard Britton Anderson scored a career-high 10 points off the bench. Andy Rehberger led the team with 7 rebounds and Mortimer Berchie distributed 6 assists.

The Huskies will travel to Landon School for a 7:30 p.m. matchup Friday.

-Head Coach Rico Reed contributed to this report.