The girls varsity basketball team defeated Blue Valley North 54-47 this past Thursday at BVN.

BVNW took an early lead, and led BVN 21-15 at the end of the first quarter. Despite this lead, senior Deanna Bugarinovic said the team could have done a better job starting the game off.

“I think we didn’t have to start off so slow,” Bugarinovic said. “We started off a little rusty, [but] towards the end, we adjusted and did very well.”

During the second quarter, BVN began to make a comeback, and the score was 31-30 at halftime. BVNW was able to keep the lead, however through the third and fourth quarters. Coach Brian Bubalo said the team played well defensively and made good decisions in the second half of the game.

“I liked the way we played defense in the second half,” Bubalo said. “I like the way we took care of the ball…We made good decisions and we didn’t have many turnovers.”

Despite Thursday’s win, Bubalo said the team needs to work on man-to-man defense and prevention of fouls. Junior Mya Mertz said another thing the team needs to work for future practices and games is fast break defense.

“I think we’re going to work on our fast break defense,” Mertz said. “We need to get back and stop some shots they hit.”

Mertz said Thursday’s win felt good because of the hard work and preparation that went into it.

“It’s awesome,” Mertz said. “It feels great because we were preparing for this all week.”

Looking into later games as well as the potential of success in the postseason, Bubalo said the team is much better off now than it was at the beginning of the season.

“We’re playing much better as a team,” Bubalo said. “We’re handling the ball better, and we’ve got nine or ten players contributing in every game. I think we’re going to be very competitive. We have a chance to do very well.”