The high school girls’ basketball team traveled to Gyeongnam International Foreign School (GIFS) to end their season at the SKAC (Southern Korean Activities Conference) tournament on Feb. 28th. Varsity came close in the semis, but some missed shots and a lack of foul calls in the last minutes halted their advancement to the finals. As a result, both varsity and junior varsity (JV) teams came short with a bronze.
Varsity girls started first against Busan Foreign School (BFS) with Minori Kojima (9) as point guard, Apple Jun (7) as shooting guard, Lily Lee (4) as small forward, Dana Lee (23) as power forward, and Bonnie Kim (16) at center. Although the first half ended with a small point difference of only 7 points, multiple turnovers and layups in the second half led the Jets to lose 30 to 2.
The unfortunate loss, however, failed to dampen their spirits. As coach Bergan taught new strategies to break the full-court press defense, the Jets managed to rise from defeat and beat HIS (Handong International School) 14 to 4.
But the semis stopped their run toward the finals with a loss against ISB (14 to 8). The girls were behind by only two points until the bitter end. Ultimately, ISB managed to widen the gap and secure their victory. Varsity point guard Minori Kojima said, “The referees were really unfair because they called one foul on ISB for the whole game which was literally impossible, but we got a lot of fouls compared to them, maybe like six, nine. And so it was really unfair, especially because it was a really important game. If we had won the game, we would have gone to the finals against BFS.”
Despite the fierce competition and high emotions, the sport brought teams together in the end. ISB point guard Taehee Eder said, “I feel like because it was so close towards the beginning and because it was the semifinals, everyone was fired up. But no matter what, both squads played really hard, and I feel like DIS and ISB had a great connection.”
JV began the tournament with starters Victoria Kang (1) as point guard, Jayden Hayward (27) as shooting guard, Grace Cho (7) as small forward, Sophie Lee (22) as power forward, and Reina Li (29) at center. The crew ended the tournament in third place with two wins against GPA (Global Prodigy Academy) (14 to 10) and ISB (International School of Busan) (25 to 10).
JV failed to grasp the ticket to the finals after a close match against BFS (Busan Foreign School). The Jets only needed one more basket to tie the game. “We were down by two points and we shot the ball twice and missed it. And those two shots I think were the most intense two shots in the entire tournament for us,” Hayward said.
Inaccurate attempts and a weak offense contributed to the Jets’ outcomes for both varsity and JV. Ace Minori Kojima faced a personal shooting slump. “I don’t know why but for the whole day my shooting wasn’t very good. I don’t know what it was, but my shooting was really bad. I couldn’t gauge the distance and the height really well compared to usual. I think only one shot went in, which was a really close shot. Usually, I could make longer shots, so it was really disappointing,” Kojima said.
In the end, DIS players showed high potential for growth despite frequent breaks from regular practice. Coach Bergan said, “We were a young team this year and we have a pretty big group of eighth graders. So I’m looking forward to having most of the girls back from the high school team and just the continuity and not having to start from scratch.”
Although the season closed its curtains, the girls improved along the journey. They transformed from minimal scoring against Daegu Middle High School all the way to a third-place SKAC finish. Now, the focus shifts to futsal for season three.
