For the past four years, Madison High School’s Girls Basketball team has competed in the Doctor Rose Battaglia Christmas Tournament, which is hosted by St. Benedictine’s Academy in Elizabeth, NJ. In 2012 and 2013, the team took home first place, and in 2014 they came in second. This year however, the odds didn’t look great.

In previous years the team had been much larger and more experienced, but seven seniors graduated last year, four of which were starters. The team traveled to the tournament with seven girls, two of which had never played at the varsity level before. Due to the lack of experience of two of the players, the majority of all three games were played by only five people. This meant that the five starters didn’t get a break and had to avoid fouling out at all costs. “We couldn’t have done it without Tish,” senior Mackaella Goodwin said jokingly about the girls’ favorite bus driver.

In the first round, Madison faced Snyder and ended up winning the game 54-27. In the semi-finals Madison and Ferris played, and Madison came out on top.

At half time, St. Mary’s had a 20 point lead on Madison, and by the end of the game they were only up by nine. Throughout the second half they narrowed the gap to only 4 points. “In the final game it was exhilarating to see my teammates come from behind and almost win the game after being down by 20 at the half,” said Chloe Stern, who is a senior on the team. Even though they ended up losing the championship game by nine points, the girls were extremely happy and proud because they went to the tournament expecting to lose early on. They even shot off a confetti canon after the last game.

The highlight of the tournament happened at halftime during the second game between Madison and Ferris. Madison had the ball as the clock counted down from three seconds. Catherine Crowley, who is a junior and captain of the basketball team, got the ball, turned and shot from halfcourt. To everyone’s surprise the ball hit the backboard and went in. “I got the ball and everyone was yelling at me to shoot, so I just turned around and chucked it,” said Catherine.

Despite the expectations, the team took home second place. The tournament director told the coach before the championship game that St. Mary’s would beat Madison by at least 30 points, but in the end the score was 45 St. Mary’s and 36 Madison.