Kaden Yang ’29
Jan 16, 2026
Last weekend, the varsity basketball teams faced The Hill School, resulting in a dominant 70-52 win for the girls and a hard-fought 86-74 loss for the boys.
The highly anticipated game drew a large crowd, filling the gym with energy and support for both teams, fueling the players' determination to claim Mid-Atlantic Prep League contests of the season. Michael Kremers ‘26 reflected, “It was a great atmosphere to be able to play our first MAPL game. It was really great seeing everybody just buy into the game.”
The girls varsity team came into the game fully prepared and quickly settled into their rhythm with a clear game plan in mind. Head coach Paul Sipes stated, “We had watched the film, talked about our matchups, and talked about what they were going to try and do. We took advantage of the mismatches that we knew were going to exist, like Alli (Caretti ’26) in the post. Pretty much anytime we wanted to score two points, we'd just give it to Alli.”
Throughout the game, the girls derailed the Hill offense with defensive discipline while securing key rebounds. Nicole Leung ‘26 stated, “We’ve been focusing on not letting the other team get their offensive rebound. We were boxing out really hard today.”
Sipes stated, “What we did well was find each other in spaces where we could do things. We had one series where Nicole went in, and we set a half-court set for her to get a three in the corner, and we crushed that.”
Lilly Killinger ‘26 said, “This is a huge win for us. It's our first MAPL win, and this year they ranked us fifth, which is really poor, especially since we’ve been finishing in the top three in the past three years. So being fifth was kind of a slap in the face, and they ranked [Hill] a tail higher than us. So to beat them and prove that we are better than them was really great today.”
The boys reflected on their loss. Head coach Sean Crocker stated, “We fought in spurts; we just couldn’t close it. We had a couple of opportunities, we got to a great shot offensive lead, but it just didn’t fall. I thought we did a good job attacking their bigs with the ball screens to the point where most of the second half, they didn't have either one of their bigs in the game.”
Kellen Greene ‘28 added, “This [game] is just to show us where we’re at in the MAPL. First MAPL game, it's always going to be tough. We came here to set up banners. This is just the beginning of MAPL.”
Both teams showed determination, playing hard and delivering strong performances. With lessons learned, they are ready to improve, compete, and win.