When asked about the subject of losing, media mogul (and former owner of the Atlanta Braves baseball team) Ted Turner once said, "The biggest thing about losing? Winning is better." No doubt the Charger girls' basketball players would second that, as they snapped a ten game losing streak last night (which extended to thirteen including the last three games of last season) with a road win over the Woodward-Granger Hawks by a 37-31 score. The Charger boys were unable to snap their own streak, as it extended to six games with a 62-37 loss to the Hawks.

Although the performance was far from flawless, the Charger girls' effort was key in coming up with the win. After taking an early 5-2 lead, the ACGC guns went silent as the team missed all seven of its shots during the rest of the quarter and found itself down by a 10-5 score.

The second quarter didn't start well, as W-G extended its lead to 17-10 after five minutes of play. The momentum switched during the last three minutes of the half when juniors Jaden Carrick and Lauren Embleton each scored five points to knot the score at 20-20 at the intermission.

The third quarter was key in the win when the Chargers held W-G to one point while scoring ten to give ACGC a 30-21 lead at the three quarter mark. Sensing that victory was at hand, the Chargers maintained a ten point lead at 37-27 until 2:15 remained on the clock when the Hawks made a mini-run of their own, closing the gap to the 37-31 final score. Some very happy ACGC players and fans alike clapped and cheered loudly as they enjoyed the sweet taste of victory!

Carrick had her second double double of the season, as she scored 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting (mainly in the post) and snared 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass. Embleton and Olivia Laabs each netted six points, while Laabs and Mady Smith both grabbed seven rebounds. Laabs also led in assists with four and along with Embleton led in steals with three. Kayley Dresback led the W-G scoring with nine points.

A big factor in the win was the fact that the Chargers took thirteen more shots that the Hawks, even though both teams made 33% of their field goal attempts. ACGC made 16 of 49 attempts, while the Hawks connected on 12 of 36 tries. ACGC was outscored at the free throw line by a 6-2 margin.

Even though ACGC had a considerable height advantage in the boys' game, a quicker W-G team was able to dominate floor play causing twenty one Charger turnovers (resulting in sixteen W-G points) and limiting ACGC to six assists, while dishing out 17 assists of their own. A pesky W-G zone defense limited the Charger shooting to 31% on13 makes out of 42 tries, including 5 three point goals out of 25 attempts. By contrast W-G made 24 of 51 field goals for 47% accuracy, and 7 of 17 tries from beyond the arc.

The Chargers had an early lead at 7-6, but the Hawks held a 12-9 advantage after the first quarter and never trailed again. W-G scored the first ten points of the second frame before Caden Wardyn ended the drought with two free throws. W-G took a 27-16 lead into the halftime break. The third quarter clinched the win for the Hawks as they outscored ACGC 18-5 (Wardyn the only Charger scorer in the quarter) to take a commanding 45-21 lead.

Wardyn as the lone Charger in double figures last night, as he scored 15 points. Bryce Littler connected on three treys for 9 points. Collin Stowe led the team in rebounds with 9, while Quenton Spack led with 3 assists. No Charger had more that two steals. Sam Peterson led W-G with 15 points.

The girls have no time to rest on their laurels and the boys have little time to lick their wounds, as the Chargers travel to Elkhorn today to face the Ex-EHK Spartans. The girls' game will tip off at 3 PM with the boys to follow.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: As this writer looked at the program for last night's game, he noticed that there were few girls from the very successful W-G volleyball team on the basketball roster. A check of Quick Stats on the Girls' Athletic Union website confirmed that, as it was discovered that there are only three W-G girls playing basketball who were also on their volleyball team this fall. In speaking to a friend from Granger he also confirmed that many of the W-G girls specialize in volleyball and do not play basketball, resulting in a basketball team that is winless in WCAC play. It seems certain that many of the school's best female athletes are letting their fellow students and the school down by specializing in one sport.

By contrast, this writer felt a surge of pride when he compared the ACGC basketball roster with the volleyball roster and discovered that of the thirteen girls who were on last night's ACGC roster, ten of them were also on the successful volleyball team this fall and the three non-volleyball players were on the successful ACGC cross country team. It seems likely that several of the ACGC basketball players are or will be active in club volleyball this winter and that there are several cross county girls who are running once a week. Clearly they can do both without having to specialize in only one sport and, by doing so, jeopardize other activities. HATS OFF TO THE ACGC GIRLS FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO, PRIDE IN, AND LOYALTY TO THEIR HIGH SCHOOL!!! YOU MAKE US PROUD!!!

Girls' Score by Quarters Boys' Score by Quarters

ACGC 5 15 10 7--37 ACGC 9 7 5 16--37

W-G 10 10 1 10--31 W-G 12 15 18 17--62

Box Score: Box Score:

FG 3Pt FT O-D Ast Stl TP FG 3Pt FT O-D Ast Stl TP

Fuller 1-2 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 Sargent 0-1 0-1 0-0 0-3 0 0 0

Laabs 3-5 0-0 0-0 4-3 3 3 6 Nelson 0-1 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Smith 1-10 1-3 1-6 1-6 1 1 4 Spack 1-3 0-2 1-2 3-1 3 0 3

Embl'n 2-10 2-9 0-1 1-0 0 3 6 Byars 1-3 0-1 0-0 0-3 0 0 2

J Hoov'r 1-4 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 0 2 Wheatl'y 1-3 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 0 2

O'Brien 0-3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Littler 3-8 3-8 0-0 0-1 0 1 9

Young 0-2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Wardyn 4-12 2-9 5-7 2-3 1 2 15

Carrick 8-12 0-1 1-2 6-5 1 0 17 Madsen 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Lemke 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Younker 1-5 0-1 0-0 1-0 0 0 2

G Hoov'r 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Stowe 2-5 0-1 0-0 2-7 0 1 4