Storm vs. Friendship

Friendship Christian Falcons 57 NLC Storm 49

The New Life Storm suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Falcons of Friendship Christian School by a score of 57-49 on Homecoming night at Friendship. Less than 2 weeks after the Storm had soundly defeated the Falcons in the JCA Holiday Tourney, this time the Falcons came out and played an inspired, aggressive game not matched by the Storm. The solid defense that has been a constant for the Storm this season was absent, as the team had a season-low 3 steals and repeatedly allowed penetration and good shots by the Falcons. The Storm scored the first points of the game on a short jumper by Courtney set up by a nice ball-reversal, but that was one of the few first-quarter highlights for the team. Rebecca picked up two quick fouls and sat out most of the quarter. Friendship went on an 18-4 run fueled by offensive rebounds, Storm turnovers, and beating the Storm downcourt in transition. A barrage of 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter stretched the lead to 15. Georgia came in and scored 8 points and put disruptive ball pressure on the Falcons' PG, and the Storm closed the gap to 34-25 at the half. In the second half, the Storm was not able to string together enough defensive stops and effective offensive possessions to make a run, and Friendship maintained their lead. The Falcons left the door open by missing free throws in the last 2 minutes, but after a banked 3 and FT from Hannah cut the lead to 8 they had several shots to tighten the game that didn't go down. Rebecca led the scoring for the Storm with 15 points, while Anna had 11 points and 19 rebounds.