Starting guard Allison Jarvis led the DGS girl’s varsity basketball team to a victory 59-28 against the Addison Trail Blazers at DGS by making 21 of those 59 points on Saturday, Jan. 21: making their record 14 wins and 10 losses.

“Jarvis is one of our captains, she worked super hard in the off-season to get to where she is today, just improving her shot, flow and driving to the basket, we really needed her to step up today and get us some baskets and I’m really glad and happy about her performance,” varsity coach Lyndsie Long said.

DGS played with a man-to-man defense throughout the game causing them over 20 turnovers and 22 fouls.

The first quarter was a tight 10 minutes, DGS having a lead of one with an 11-10 score. Addison Trail player Elana Papanicolaou started the game off by hitting a 3-pointer and carrying on to score six of their 10 points. DGS players began to double-team Papanicolaou and make sure she was covered at all times, sometimes even pushing her to the floor.

Non-starting forward Hayven Harden came into the game with the goal of getting rebounds. The 5’10” sophomore got over 10 rebounds for her team, three blocked shots and scored six baskets. When the ball hit the backboard and came back, the tall sophomore was there to grab the ball before the Blazers were able to–helping her team with a 31-lead win.

Ending the first half of the game, DGS doubled their amount of points from the first quarter: a 33-15 score. Both teams had 10 fouls each and coaches were not happy with the ref’s calls. Following into the next quarter, Addison Trails coach Cory Little received a technical foul giving DGS two free throws for Guard Victoria Teper, which she went one-for-two on.

“Tep has been hitting her free throws the past few games, nice swish at the rim, so when they called the technical I said, “Tep to the line, she’s going to put them in. So she made one of two, I know pressure kind of gets to you when you’re by yourself on the free throw line, but I’m glad she really stepped up as a senior, so it’s fun to watch her grow,” Long said.

The two freshmen of the varsity team stepped up this game. Starting center Megan Ganschow won the jump shot at the beginning of the game, stayed away from foul trouble and scored 14 points for DGS. Ganschow is the tallest on the team and holds her confidence in playing the game at a height of 6’1” among the older players she plays with.

“It’s definitely a privilege, I really love the competition and wanting to grow. Also playing with the girls on this team,” Ganschow said.

Non-starting guard Jakylah Thomas came into the game to fill in the spot of guard Emily Petring, Thomas played well defensively and offensively by hitting two three-pointers and two free throws. Standing at 5’3”, Thomas was able to turn over the ball for DGS multiple times against the older and taller Blazer players.

“I feel like there’s a bunch of pressure on me, like when I first made the team I didn’t think I was going to make varsity but since I made the team, the pressure is up and the coaches are always watching, so I just got to make sure to give my best performance at all times,” Thomas said.

This DGS game was not only just a game, it was a charity event supporting Alzheimer’s research: We Are Pat. The DGS players, coaches and parents were all wearing orange shirts with the writing, “We are Pat” on the front of them during the multiple girl’s basketball games on Jan. 21.

We Are Pat is a charity that the retired head coach of girls’ basketball for Tennessee Pat Summitt started with her son when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 59. Five years later, Summitt passed away due to the disease. DGS collected many donations during the games for charity, they also had 14 different raffles and wore orange shirts in support of the charity.

“I feel really good, but I think we played a really good team game. I couldn’t have done it without my other teammates Megan had 14; she was getting a bunch of rebounds. Hayven had so many big boards and free throws in the first/second quarter to get us ahead in this lead, like Liv and Tep were really good at cutting off the signing line with me and steals on our press, which built our moments of this big lead,” Jarvis said.