A big red L

This past weekend, the Blue Storm basketball teams played home games against The Lawrenceville School. Girls and boys teams defeated the Big Red, 58-41 and 65-61 respectively. 

A convincing victory on the girls side elevated the team’s season record to 9-5. Lily Crounse ’25 said: “The team is showing up and giving it our all. We've had some tough losses, but overall I think we're doing pretty well this season.”

The girls team this year has quite a different feel. Allister Caretti ‘’26 commented, “The team is a lot more healthy. I think everyone’s more excited to be in practices and matches.”

The team welcomed the addition of Adilynn Rinker ’27 and Nia Henley ’24. Madison Goodhart ’24 said, “Adi is super athletic and has improved a lot over the season! Nia is very talented and a great addition to our team, and we can’t wait to see her back on the floor after her concussion.”

Recently, the team has been working on their ability to organize quickly under pressure. “We’re working on our rebounds and reducing our turnovers, as that has been what’s lost us games in the past,” said Caretti. Specifically for their game against the Big Red, the girls team “watched a lot of films, and analyzed the systems they used,” said head coach Paul Sipes. 

The biggest challenge for the team has been “sickness and injuries. It feels like we can't catch a break sometimes,” Crounse shared. Despite these difficulties, the rest of the season looks promising. Sipes said, “There’s a chance that we could win out the rest of the season.” The team hopes to place high in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League and state tournaments.

The boys victory over the Big Red brought the team’s season record to 12-5. Assistant coach Richard Mahoney said, “The team’s doing really well. Although we’ve had a few hiccups, we work through it.”  

The team is much improved from last year. There are better reserve playersHead coach Sean Crocker said, “We are also better at defense this year.” 

The team welcomed new talented players that are receiving lots of playing time. Mahoney said, “Erik Oliver-Bush [‘24] is a great defender and goes out and plays really hard, he pushes [his] teammates to work hard. And both Thaddeus Lee [’25] and Dominic Schmidt [’24] are phenomenal players [who] bring a lot of energy to the team.” Unfortunately, Joe Segal ’26, another new member of the team, won’t be able to play for the remainder of the year due to recent injury.” 

During practices, the team has focused on defense while incorporating strong offensive tactics. In preparation for the game against the Big Red, Lee said, “We spent the whole week preparing for it. We watched their films and talked about how to play against them.” The coaches are trying to take advantage of the team's height advantage. Adrian Rios ’25 said, “We are preparing ourselves by making sure we are all on the same page and focusing on ourselves.” 

However, the season hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Several injuries have hindered the team from reaching its full potential. Lee added, “We’ve also struggled with bouncing back from hard losses this year. We’re working on putting it behind us and focusing on the next game.” 

Despite occasional setbacks, the team is trying to “play as a unit, playing the best basketball together as a team,” said Crocker. 

Simon Brennan ’26 said the team is hungry to “win MAPL. We feel like we have a really good chance this year.”