On Friday, February 4, our girls varsity basketball team played their last game of the season against the Eagles of Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School. The girls showed an amazing effort and a lot of heart, but ended up losing by only 5 points, with a final score of 35 to 40.
This had to be one of the most nerve-racking games of the season, as the scores remained neck-and-neck until the very last moments of the game.
The Pilibos team opened the scoring and stayed in the lead by converting multiple baskets, but the Nitros squad quickly countered and narrowed the score to 13 – 10 by the end of the first quarter.
The Eagles continued to increase their lead in the second quarter, but an impressive 3-pointer by Sella Koshkerian (#1) instantly changed the mood of the game, bringing the deficit closer for GHS.
It looked like all hope was lost when the 3rd quarter finished, with the score set at 34 to 19 in favor of Pilibos. But our girls successfully chipped away at the lead and brought the score to 38 – 26 early in the fourth quarter, with more heroics by Koshkerian and a 3-point shot by Carmen Avedian (#5).
All of this led up to the final minute of the 4th quarter, which was by far the most suspenseful 60 seconds of the entire game.
Cherilyn Legaspi (#15) scored a 3-pointer with just 43 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 38 – 29. Natalie Keshishyan (#10) then scored consecutive shots from behind the arc, bringing the score to 38 – 35 with just 20 seconds remaining in the game.
Those final 20 seconds felt like a lifetime for everyone, as all Nitro fans were only thinking about one thing: a 3-point shot to tie the score.
Although the Eagles came out on top, the 4th quarter was especially strong for GHS, as our girls scored 16 points in that final quarter, which was more than the Pilibos team had scored in any quarter in the game.
The leading scorer for the Nitros was Keshishyan, who scored 14 out of the 35 points that the team scored in total, and Legaspi finished with 8 points of her own.
Overall, it was an exciting match that could’ve gone either way, and we hope that GHS can defeat Pilibos sometime in the near future.
