Cayleigh Griffin, a senior captain on the Trinity Catholic High School girls basketball team, is blogging about her experiences during the season.)
By Cayleigh Griffin
When I look back on last year’s city championship game against Stamford High, it is honestly all a blur. We had already lost to Westhill and were hoping to knock off Stamford on our home court, but unfortunately it was not meant to be.
What a difference a year makes! Last night we defeated Stamford to get the title back.
Going into this year’s game with Stamford, we had a bad taste in our mouths. The feeling we had was not something any of us wanted to have linger through this season. Prior to the start of this campaign, Coach Kriz paraded us past Trinity’s trophy case, stopping only for a moment to point out the empty space where the City Trophy once rested.
He reminded us any chance he could that he wanted the hardware back at our school. That fueled the fire with all of us to work harder, to spend extra time before and after practices with Coach O’Leary to refine our games.
This team has a special bond. There are no individuals. Everything we do is for the good of the team. Looking back on the humiliating defeats at the hands of Staples and St. Joseph early in the season has helped shape this team. While we don’t know how the season will end up, we are a stronger team now by losing those games in the manner that we did.
All I’ve been doing is reading the article in today’s paper over and over again and going online to look at the pictures from the game. I still feel as though I’m standing on the court. I can envision everything in my head as though I’m still there. I continually replay the final moments of the game. The clock is winding down and the five starters are standing together, hand in hand, on the sideline.
Clare is to my left and Eileen is to my right, with Kenz and Erin following next to Ei. As the seconds ticked down, we could barely contain our excitement. All we could do was smile and jump up and down. Just like the city championship game for volleyball, Clare and I had it planned out that once we won, we’d jump on top of each other.
And that we did.
The locker room was pure craziness. No one could hear what anyone was saying; it was just a chorus of screams. One by one, each coach ran in and was just as excited as rest of us. I can remember Eileen saying, “Can we go to the same restaurant?” referring to the restaurant we recently had gone to for our volleyball city championship celebration.
I can’t remember the last time I was that thrilled about winning a basketball game. Here it is the next day and I still have these emotions of wanting to jump up and down. After losing both city games on our home court last year, it is the most satisfying feeling to be victorious on the opposing team’s courts this season.
With three games left in the regular season, I am at a loss for words at how rapidly this season has flown by. I will have the opportunity to celebrate my senior night a week from today and I’m unsure if I’m going to make it without shedding a few tears. Our record now stands at 14-3, and I couldn’t have wished for better teammates to share in this year’s success.
I know Mr. Kriz will be proud to have that trophy back in the empty spot in the trophy case where we all feel it belongs.
