vs. Benjamin Davis

On Monday, November 25, Stratford played a day-game at Benjamin Davis. Sophomore guard Riley O'Connor kicked off the scoring with a three-pointer from the right corner, courtesy of a smart assist from Freshman guard Ava Gibson. Scoring was slow to spark after that. Senior guard Megan Hallmark converted a bucket off the out-of-bounds play from O'Connor, and it was 5-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Sophomore guard Camille Warren came out of a scrum with control of the ball and scooped to Senior forward Bella Perroni for a bucket. O'Connor forced a turnover, and Senior forward Kendall Davis scored from under the basket. O'Connor forced another turnover. Davis once again got the ball down low but kicked it out to O'Connor for a three from the right wing and it was 12-11, Spartans. Gibson set a textbook screen to free up Warren for a score. Davis juked-and-jived under the basket and laid it in with seven seconds remaining, and the Spartans led 16-14 at the half.

Spartan points were hard to come by early in the third quarter while the Falcons started making some shots. After Gibson led a fast break and delivered to Senior Layla Lloyd for a layup, they were down by four. Lloyd grabbed an offensive rebound and scored again. Gibson led another fast break with Lloyd on the receiving end, and Lloyd scored six of the quarter's seven points. The Spartans were down by three going into the final quarter.

Davis knocked in a short jumper. Lloyd corralled an errant pass and swung it to Warren, who found Davis at the top of the key for a trey. Gibson halted a Falcons' fast break with a steal. She charged up the court and passed to O'Connor, who found Lloyd on the right wing for another three-pointer, and the Spartans led 31-30. Davis scored off a bounce pass from Warren. The Falcons scored twice and with less than a minute remaining, were up by a point. O'Connor pounced on a loose ball and scored on a fast break to take the lead. The Falcons had the ball with 10 seconds remaining, but O'Connor put herself in position to get yet another loose ball. She passed to Lloyd, and the Falcons were forced to foul. Lloyd converted both free throws, and the Spartans were up by three with 5.9 seconds remaining. O'Connor made a savvy move and jumped the inbounds pass to seal the win.

Davis scored 11 points and had six rebounds. Lloyd also had 11 points with a shooting accuracty of 80% from the field. O'Connor had eight points and seven steals. Gibson also recorded seven steals plus six rebounds. Sophomore Sophie Prejean had five rebounds.

vs. Bay City

On Friday, November 22, Bay City came to Stratford for a game and went home with a loss, 40-27. O'Connor led in scoring with 14 points plus five steals. Senior guard Aria Taylor had nine points. Gibson had eight points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Gretchen Loveless had four points and five rebounds.

The Spartans are on a three-game win streak and sit at 5-7 on the season. The next game is December 6 at home vs. Fort Bend Bush.