Three days after dropping a thrilling 58-51 overtime battle in its final regular-season game, Foxcroft pushed the Hawks to the brink on their own court Friday in the first round of the Independent School League Tournament. The 43-42 loss left Foxcroft with an 8-11, 7-11 in the ISL record for the season. NCS finished 17-8 overall and 12-4 in the league.
In overtime, Foxcroft hit a wall physically and NCS, which had beaten Foxcroft by 15 points in the teams' January meeting, ran away with the game, to the great disappointment of the vociferous crowd and intense but exhausted home team players.
"It truly was a great game," said Coach Matt Macdonald.
Chelsy '08 led Foxcroft with 18 points, Jess '07 added 14 points and co-captain Jessi '06, playing in her last home game, chipped in 14 points.
Three days later, Foxcroft had the tough mission of traveling to Washington, D.C., to play NCS in their gym. Not unlike the previous heart-stopping affair, this game proved to be another classic.
This time Chelsy's sister, Jessi '06, had 15 points in leading Foxcroft to within two points of grabbing a huge win. Again, as in the earlier game, Foxcroft had the ball and a chance to take the lead with 16 seconds left in the game. But mistakes in the last seconds cost Foxcroft an opportunity to get off a shot.
In addition to Jessi's tremendous farewell effort, co-captain Shannon '07, Chelsy '08, Laura '07, Cherice '07, Christa '07, Sophia Alvarez '08 and Jess '07 all played a role in making this game one to remember.
"Congratulations to all the members of the team," says Copach Macdonald. "They had a great year and earned the respect of the ISL along the way."