The girl’s thirds basketball team finished their season with a nail-biter loss to rival Choate, falling 31-30 on their home court. Sprinkling of few of its JV squad into their starting line-up, Choate surged to an early first half lead of 10 points despite good offensive looks and key baskets from Aurelia Bolton ’22, Sunshine Chen ’23, and Arie Lewis-Pugh ‘22. The Big Green brought the intensity in the second half, thanks in large part to the energizer bunny Destynee St. Agathe-Faure ’22. Agathe-Faure seemed to be in two places at once on the defensive end; her infectious hustle helped Deerfield turn the corner. Lewis-Pugh responded on the offensive end and Bolton finished her third and-one of the season. Deerfield continued to add points while keeping Choate off the scoreboard, holding them scoreless for a 6-minute span between the third and fourth quarters. Down only 3 with 2:30 to play, Mia Calcano ’23 got her hands in passing lane of a Choate fast break and the ball found its way to Sydney Dinkins ’22, who, despite an off-night shooting, turned around and drilled a nothing-but-net three pointer to tie the game. They say you could hear the crowd’s roar all the way in the Greer. Lewis-Pugh immediately stole the ball and went to the foul line where she made one to give the Big Green a lead that they maintained until the final seconds of play. A desperation three from the opponent took an unfavorable bounce to an open Choate player who drilled the game winner with only seconds remaining. The girls finish the season 3-9 but earned the right to hold their heads high having left every ounce of energy on the floor and demonstrated true grit in the game and over the course of the season.