The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

Girls’ basketball loses last game, still heads toward CIF playoffs


Although four varsity starters returned from last year, the girls’ basketball team suffered injuries late in the season. Despitea strong projection, the team ended in third place in the Mission League. Last year’s leading scorer Nicole Hung ’10 dropped out due to a knee injury just as league play started, leaving the team in a hole.

“You feel like your hands are tied behind your back; you’re helpless,” Hung said.

With Hung out, the team rallied around point guard Nicole Nesbit ’10; however, she suffered a deep thigh bruise with two games left in league competition. Though Nesbit played through it, Coach Melissa Hearlihy noticed a change in her play.

“Little Nic [Nesbit] put pressure on the offense that gave us easy baskets,” Hearlihy said. “In our last two games though, she was literally dragging her leg down the floor.”

Although the team rallied to 7-1 in Mission League play without Hung’s help, the loss of a healthy Nesbit proved too difficult to overcome. The team dropped its final two games of the regular season to Chaminade and Notre Dame.

“We should have won league,” Hung said. “Now we’ll be underdogs, so it’s up to us to prove ourselves. It all depends on whether the team wants to go out with a bang or lose in the first round.”

After losing the coin toss to Chaminade for second place, the Wolverines obtained the three seed in CIF and will play Wilson High School on Saturday afternoon. Though Hung is out for the season, Hearlihy expects Nesbit to be up and runing coming off five days of rest.

“We’re going in as a three seed, but we don’t see ourselves that way,” co-captain Clare Bergman ’08 said. “We know we’re better than that, so we’re going to get in some good practices this week and play to win on Saturday.”

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The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School
Girls’ basketball loses last game, still heads toward CIF playoffs