Cardinal Gibbons High School - 1401 Edwards Mill Rd Raleigh, N.C. 27607Volume 13 - Issue 4 - December 19, 2013

Check us out online at www.cghsnc.org/newspaper and follow us on Twitter @newspapercghsncCover photo by Dan Jukic/Gibbons MediaPage design by Arts & Entertainment Editor Caroline Young and Managing Editor Sean Feick

Students win first prize in local high school art contest

4

11 Wrestling begins rebuilding season with new coach

Chorus presents Christmas choral concert

9

News2 NHS Toy Drive provides

holiday cheer to children“Silent Night” basketball games celebrate school spirit

3

Sports

Women’s basketball team gets off to fast start

12

Arts and Entertainment8 Fall dance recital spotlights

growing dance program

Junior Nick Forbes (left) drops back on defense as the Gibbons crowd erupts in cheers after junior Justin Reid’s free throw scored Gibbons’ tenth point. The Gibbons home crowd remained completely silent until the tenth point of each of the four basketball games against Ravenscroft during “Silent Night” on December 10,

‘Silent Night’ gets loud

The Crusader 2 DECEMBER 19, 2013

Page design by News Editor Stephanie Todd

NEWS

NHS members driven to help childrenAnnual Toy and Clothing Drive raises $33,395 worth of giftsStephanie ToddNews Editor

For the past 19 years, the Gibbons National Honor Society has sponsored the annual Christmas Toy and Clothing Drive during the Christmas season.

This act of charity calls upon fac-ulty, staff, and students alike to donate toys and clothing to a group of chil-dren adopted by Gibbons. This year, a record-breaking $33,395 in toys and clothes was collected for 84 children.

“In my opinion, the Toy Drive is a true testament to the Cardinal Gibbons Mission of Faith, Service, and Leader-ship,” said math teacher Jen Cipriano, first-year NHS moderator, in an email. Cipriano also was the teacher of the class which raised the most total mon-ey.

Cipriano said the Toy Drive helps us appreciate and share the abundant blessings of the Gibbons community.

“The Toy Drive gives us the oppor-tunity to give back to local communi-ties and to remember that not everyone is as fortunate as we are. I think it is a great way to celebrate the Christmas season here at Gibbons,” said Cipriano.

Juniors and seniors in NHS helped organize and lead the Toy Drive by act-ing as a classroom representative, a packer, and/or a deliverer.

The representatives paired up with a fellow NHS member and collaborated with a homeroom of any grade level as well as the homeroom teacher to pro-vide Christmas presents for one of the 83 children whose family could not af-

ford it this year. Each homeroom received a name

and a list of preferable gift ideas. Rep-resentatives collected the toys donated as well as used any money donated to go out and buy more gifts.

“I was a representative with (se-nior) Lauren Keeling, and it was a re-

ally great experience,” said senior Faith Wilson.

Wilson went on to say that this is an experience that truly embodies what the Christmas season is about.

“I loved it and it felt great to do something for those that are less fortu-nate. It’s important to help others out

especially during the Christmas sea-son, to do things for others to live for a greater purpose than ourselves, the way Jesus taught us to live,” said Wil-son.

The packers gathered in the Learn-ing Commons on Monday, December 9 to collect and pack the donated items in bags or boxes.

“I think the Toy Drive is impor-tant because it gives kids who normally wouldn’t experience the Christmas joy a chance to have joy during the holi-day season. Packers had to evaluate the items and tally the money total and then placed the items in bags. All NHS members were very busy throughout the whole Toy Drive,” said senior Ra-chel Bartolomeo.

Some NHS deliverers packed their cars with two or three bags of belong-ings each and drove them over to Be-ginning and Beyond Child Develop-ment Center, a preschool and daycare in downtown Raleigh from which 74 of the children were adopted. Oth-ers dropped the gifts off at the Charlie Gaddy Center in Raleigh, from which 9 of the children were adopted.

“I was a representative, a packer, and a deliverer. I do think [the Toy Drive] is important because a lot of kids essentially get forgotten and we changed that for over 80 of them,” said junior Joey Edmond.

“It was a lot of work but it was to-tally worth every minute,” said Cipria-no.

Teacher Name totalCipriano, Jennifer $1742.50Troy, Joan $1706.00Dmytriw, Patrick $1363.46Hudson, Douglas $1338.00Kennedy, Brook $1299.00Non-homeroom fac/staff $1270.00 Tawater, Mark $1203.00Meyerl, Gary $1118.89Perry, Julie $950.00Collins-Boyce, Ellen $820.59

Teacher Name totalTroy, Joan $60.93 Cipriano, jennifer $56.21Kennedy, Brook $51.96Schemmel,Sr. Janet $51.67 Dmytriw, Patrick $43.98Owens, Brooks $40.82Liebler, James $40.15Hudson, Douglas $39.35Tawater, Mark $38.81McCormack, Jessica $36.56

NHS members sort through the items donated to the NHS Toy Drive after school in the Learning Commons on Monday, December 9. The Christmas Toy Drive raised a total of over $33.000 worth of clothes and toys for the needy children who were the beneficia-ries of the drive. The top raising classrooms are above, with the top total raising class-rooms on the left and the top raising per student classrooms on the right. Information from NHS moderator Jennifer Cipriano.

Photo by Darsey Williams/Gibbons Media

Photo by Darsey Williams/Gibbons Media

Photo by Jessica Airey/Gibbons Media

Photo by Jessica Airey/Gibbons Media

(Left to right) Seniors Stephanie Girard, Maddy Reid, and Calleigh West sort through toys and clothes in the learning Commons on December 8.

Top 10 classes, total collected Top 10 classes, average per student

(Above) Junior Caroline O’Neill (foreground) and senior Genevieve Servoss check off the items on their list for the NHS Toy Drive.

(Left) Juniors Elizabeth Chavez and Alexandra Lankenow pack up their donations for the NHS Toy Drive.

The Crusader 3December 19, 2013

Page design by News Editor Anthony Palumbo and Sports Editor Andrew Schnittker

News

Photo by Dan Jukic/Gibbons Media

‘Twas the week before exams, when all through the gym, not a person was stirring, not even a student. The chil-dren sat in the bleachers not making a peep, while visions of the tenth point danced in their heads.

Gibbons students gathered in the Fr. Price Gymnasium for the first-ev-er “Silent Night” event at Gibbons on Tuesday, December 10, during which the home crowd remains silent until the tenth point is scored by the home team.

All four basketball teams (men’s and women’s varsity and JV) played lo-cal rival Ravenscroft at home starting at 3:30 p.m. and ending with the larg-

est crowd for the men’s varsity game at 8 p.m.

The event allowed students to forget about all the stress as they fin-ished their final tests of the quarter and prepped for exams.

“Silent Night really let me take a night to be with my friends and school community and take a break from the stress of exams,” said junior Kathryn Baker.

The Silent Night idea originated at Taylor University, Ind. which holds its signature event every year the Friday before exams begin.

The Gibbons version was meant to do nothing more than celebrate the Gibbons community.

“We were simply looking for a way

Silent until a (tenth) point

Anthony PalumboNews Editor

to celebrate community and basket-ball,” said Mike Rogosich, Assistant Principal for Student Activities.

At halftime, National Honor Soci-ety moderator Jen Cipriano announced the final amount of money raised dur-ing the NHS Toy Drive, which ended the day before: a record-shattering $33,395. The group spent a week send-ing representatives to each homeroom to help collect toys and clothes for 84 young children at the Beginning & Be-yond day care and the Charlie Gaddy Center.

The men’s varsity game started off with a “silent” warm up for the teams, as students began to pack the gym. The Gibbons Green Army had members dressed up as the three wise

men and Santa Claus, and many stu-dents dressed in their best (or tackiest) Christmas attire.

Ravenscroft came back after an early Gibbons lead to go up 10-8 before the silence in the crowd was broken after junior Justin Reid’s second suc-cessful free throw tied the game at ten. The crowd went crazy and Gibbons im-mediately forced a turnover.

Though the night ended with Gib-bons losing 72 -53, the atmosphere set the tone for an unforgettable night.

“It was great. Mr. Rogosich did a great job with Silent Night. The kids were awesome and the support was great,” said varsity men’s basketball coach Marque Carrington.

Photo by Dan Jukic/Gibbons Media

The Gibbons crowd holds up their hands in anticipation of a free throw by junior Justin Reid during the first quarter of Gibbons’ “Silent Night” game against Ravenscroft on Tues-day, December 10. A made free throw by Reid gave the Crusaders their tenth point of the night, which sent the Gibbons faifthful into a frenzy.

The Gibbons crowd cheers as junior guard Nick Forbes (5) takes on senior Ravenscroft guard Chris Corchiani, Jr. Gibbons faced Ravenscroft in a quadruple header during the first “Silent Night” at Gibbons, where students remained completely silent until the tenth point of the game. Reports of the Gibbons version went national (right).

The Crusader 4 December 19, 2013

Page design by Managing Editor Sean Feick

NEWS

The Raleigh-based Visual Art Ex-change group honored two Gibbons students, seniors Andrew Cochrane and Andrea Velosa, with first place awards in its annual Young Artist Ex-hibit. The two winners were officially recognized by the organization and earned a spot in an art gallery sharing the name of the contest that was open from November 1 to November 14.

Velosa’s piece, entitled “Haciendo Pan”, is a batik made of cloth dyed with black ink in a wax mold that results in a slightly faded black and white image. The name means “Making Bread”, and the image itself is modeled after a pho-to taken by her father while they were in Colombia.

According to Velosa, the depiction is meant to represent her Latin Ameri-can family and heritage. Velosa’s art placed first overall in the high school division of the contest, with a place in the Visual Art Exchange’s gallery and a college scholarship offered as prizes.

Art association honors Gibbons studentsSeniors win first prize in high school county art competitionsSean FeickManaging Editor

“It’s just exciting to know my art was in an actual gallery and they con-sidered it as more than student work,” said Velosa.

Cochrane won Best in Show for the Digital Media division of the con-test, and also got a place in the show. His work, entitled “Simplistic Reality”, was a composition of four photographs overlaid with a digitally-constructed drawing of high school students, with the underlying message to be deter-mined by the viewer.

“It’s an honor. It makes me look at my art in a different way because somebody thought it was best in show and I’m just glad they enjoyed it,” said Cochrane.

Both winners are members of the Gibbons art program, which submitted a total of fourteen pieces by students in various classes to the contest.

“I’m happy that we’re recogniz-ing the students for their outstanding work,” said Rebecca Dason, depart-ment chair, who teaches both Velosa and Cochrane in AP Drawing.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Senior Andrew Cochrane’s artwork is called “Simplistic Reality” and won first prize in the high school Digital Media division of the Young Artist Exhibit contest The piece is a composition of photographs and digitally constructed images, with the meaning to be determined by the viewer.

Many students going through high school would never imagine that when they grew up they would be working to save the world from infectious diseases. That was exactly the case for Dr. Maryanne McDow-ell.

McDowell, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, presented a talk about her work to a theater full of students on Wednesday, December 11 as part of the speaker series sponsored by the Biology Club. Science teachers offered extra credit to students who attended and many took advantage, filling the main theater to capacity.

McDowell researches infectious diseases, includ-ing some that affect military members stationed in countries afflicted by infectious disease.

“I was never really interested in the study of in-fectious diseases, let alone pursuing a career in it. It wasn’t until my freshman year when my professor began talking about parasites and it wowed me,” said McDowell.

The military is something that has been really close to McDowell’s heart, as the military has been a big part of her life.

“Coming from a family where my dad served in Vietnam and my brother is stationed at Fort Bragg, I really felt like studying these diseases could by my contribution,” said McDowell.

McDowell is the core of a team of researchers at the Eck Institute for Global Health who work for global health throughout the world.

She and her team have many different field sites that they collaborate with who are located in differ-ent areas of the world. These are groups that she is using to make her “village”. Throughout the lecture McDowell stressed the importance of the idea that not just one person can work to stop these diseases, but rather it is going to take a whole village of people.

Notre Dame professor speaks at GibbonsBiology Club hosts infectious disease research scientistAnthony PalumboNews Editor

Photo courtesy of the artist

Senior Andrea Velosa’s piece, “Haciendo Pan”, won first prize in the high school division of the Young Artist Exhibit contest sposored by the Visual Art Exchange Group. The im-age is a batik, or piece of artistically dyed cloth, and based on a photograph taken by Velosa’s father during a trip to Colombia.

Photo by Sean Feick/The Crusader

Senior Andrew Cochrane works on a new project during his AP 2-D Design class taught by art department chair Rebecca Dason.

McDowell and her team mainly focus on the two diseases Leishmania and Plasmodium. Her lab works to interpret the interactions of human flesh and the saliva of the animals that transmit these diseases.

Making a big impact in the science field is never easy, but to McDowell, she has been making a differ-ence all along.

“Science works in little increments, and often times we fail, but that is how we learn. I haven’t dis-

covered the vaccine for Leishmania, but I feel like what I do is getting us closer to that,” said McDowell.

McDowell also spoke at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening as part of The Father Hesburgh Lecture Series, a series of lectures sponsored by the Notre Dame Club of Eastern North Carolina. The series in-tends to reach out to alumni and educate them on the research going on at the university.

Photo by Dan Jukic/Gibbons Media

Dr. Maryanne McDowell, a research scientist at the University of Notre Dame, talks about her work with infectious disease and global health to a packed theater of students as part of the Biology Club’s speaker series on December 11.

The Crusader 5December 19, 2013 The Repeater Spotlight

Photo courtesy of The Repeater art and literary magazine

Sophomore Samantha Wine, earned first place in the first ever The Repeater Art and Literary Contest for her piece “Self Portrait”. She used the mediums of marker, watercolor paints, colored pencil, and chalk pastels.

Soberano used drypoint for this piece, entitled “Batik”. and won first place in the art division of the contest

Photo courtesy of The Repeater art and literary magazine

The Repeater hosts first ever literary and art contest

The Repeater hosted its first ever art and literary contest this year, and the winners were announced on Friday, December 13. Junior Editor-In-Chief Anthony Palumbo (below, far left), sophomore Samantha Wine, the overall winner,(below, second left), Librarian Tripp Reade (below, right), senior Zach Soberano the art winner (below. center), and senior Brandon Dini the literary winner (pictured above) all were winners of the contest. The Repeater donated two books to the library in honor of the first place winners for art and literary.

Photo by Rachelle Garbarine/Advancement Page design by News Editor Anthony Palumbo and Editor-In-Chief Brennan Doherty

Three students recognized and honored by Gibbons magazine“Self Portrait” by Samantha Wine

Q&A with Samantha Wine Q: What is favorite medium?

A: My favorite medium would have to be graphite.

Q: How long have you been drawing?

A: I have been drawing as long as I can remember, I really don’t remember the earliest time I started drawing.

Q: Why do you draw?

A: Since I have been at Gibbons I have learned a lot about art and the different techniques behind it, which has really allowed me to enjoy it and relax.

Q: Do you have a certain place where you like to draw?

A: I would have to say my room or on the couch watch-ing television, because it is a quiet place that lets me really get into my work.

First Place Overall: Samantha Wine, sophomore

First Place Literary: Brandon Dini, senior

First Place Art: Zach Soberano, senior

Photo courtesy of The Repeater art and literary magazine

The Crusader 10 MAESTRO

Stephanie GirardSenior

What is your New Years Resolution?My New Year’s resolution to not procrastinate. Why did you pick it?I picked this resolution because I normally wait un-til the last minute to do things instead of using my time wisely.How are you going to accomplish your goal?I will try to be more effient with my work. Instead of procrastinating I want to get my assignments done.

Ryan RufFSophomore

What is your New Year’s resolution?My New Year’s Resolution is to have less stress.Why did you pick it?Because I’ve had too much to do and it’s been causing me to stress out.How are you going to accomplish your goal?Organize my schedule more.

New Year’s Resolution TO DO LIST:

Goverment Paper

Chemistry Exam

Physics Exam

Theology Project

Econ Project

Catherine FitzhenrySenior

What is your New Years resolution?To enjoy every last second I have left at Gibbons.Why didi you pick it?Because finishing my last year at Gibbons the right way is very important to me. How are you going to accomplish your goal?By working hard with Green Army to get students involved with our school.

Silent Night BBALL GAME!

making the most of the season

You

only

got

100

years

to live

Chris SebastianiSophomore

What is your New Year’s resolution?My New Year’s resolution is to get better grades in the second semester.Why did you pick it?I want to do well in my classes and this will help me get into a good college later on. How you going to accomplish your goal? I am going to accomplish it by studying more and working harder.

Page Design by Production Editor Cheyenne Wood

The Crusader 11MAESTRO December 19, 2013

Stephanie GirardSenior

What is your New Years Resolution?My New Year’s resolution to not procrastinate. Why did you pick it?I picked this resolution because I normally wait un-til the last minute to do things instead of using my time wisely.How are you going to accomplish your goal?I will try to be more effient with my work. Instead of procrastinating I want to get my assignments done.

Ryan RufFSophomore

What is your New Year’s resolution?My New Year’s Resolution is to have less stress.Why did you pick it?Because I’ve had too much to do and it’s been causing me to stress out.How are you going to accomplish your goal?Organize my schedule more.

New Year’s Resolution

Catherine FitzhenrySenior

What is your New Years resolution?To enjoy every last second I have left at Gibbons.Why didi you pick it?Because finishing my last year at Gibbons the right way is very important to me. How are you going to accomplish your goal?By working hard with Green Army to get students involved with our school.

“There is no passion to be found playing

small - in setting for a life that is less than the one you are are capable of living,” - Nelson Mandela

ChristmasToy

Drive

making the most of the season

Chris SebastianiSophomore

What is your New Year’s resolution?My New Year’s resolution is to get better grades in the second semester.Why did you pick it?I want to do well in my classes and this will help me get into a good college later on. How you going to accomplish your goal? I am going to accomplish it by studying more and working harder.

Interviews by Production Editor Cheyenne Wood, Inside and Out Editor Rebecca Camak, Sports Editor Andrew Mihok, Managing Editor Sean Feick

Page design by Arts & Entertainment Editor Caroline Young

The Gibbons Dance program performed its fall concert on Thursday, November 21 and Friday, No-vember 22 in the Gibbons mainstage theater to two sold-out crowds.

Tickets went on sale Thursday, November 15 for $5 each and 800 tickets sold out by the following Tuesday.

This year’s show featured more dancers than ever before in the dance program’s history. There were over 70 new girls in Dance I, when normally there are about 30.

“Having so many new Dance I girls was fun. We got to meet lots of new people and it was nice to be the role model for once, instead of being the ‘new kids’ like we were last year.” said junior Hannah Sampson, who is in Dance II.

The show also ran longer than past shows because there were three Dance I performances, not just one.

Guest choreographers put together dances for Dance IV and V, mixing their own specific style with that of dance teachers Brooks Owens and Alina Ramirez.

“There were so many more people this year, I was really surprised. The choreography was fantastic, eloquently put together. The different styles meshed together beautifully to exemplify the art that is Gib-bons Dance. It was sick,” said junior TJ Schaaf, who attended the Thursday show.

“In those first few dances, especially the first one, it was more theatrical. I thought the choices for Dance I were very good because they weren’t overly complex. The girls looked completely comfortable and the fun, free-spirited dances of the little girls seemed to mesh very well with the more sophisticat-ed dances of the older girls. It seemed to flow very well,” said English teacher Michael Friedman, who also attended the show.

“I liked the red dress dance [“Dear Jane,” per-formed by Dance I to A Great Big World’s Say Some-thing] because I thought they showed emotion really well. It was cool because I saw the Dance I girls last year and they’ve gotten so much better since then,” said junior Mckenzie Schrick, who was at Friday’s show.

Each year showcases a grand finale, where each section of dance (Dance I through Dance V, along with tap and ballet) performs another dance, all of which follow some theme. This year’s theme was a day in the life of a high school student, and the danc-es featured specific aspects of high school: lunch, the “cool kids,” the “nerds,” a classroom, and “A-B-C’s,” to name a few.

“I liked the finale the best. The dance to Lipgloss [a hip-hop dance performed by Dance III] was so cool but the hip hop one with the nerd costumes was my favorite [“Move if You Wanna,” performed by Dance IV/V]. Celia (Burger) did such a good job,” said ju-nior Aubrey Losack, who attended Thursday’s show.

For many dancers, the show had a different feel-ing than in past years, due in part to the massive amount of people participating and watching.

“I think it’s very inspirational. It opens my eyes to community and gave me a chance to bond with my friends. It helps me to know what a family is really like,” said Sampson about the dance program.

Gibbons Dance packs the house – twice

Kristina RuppOp-Ed Editor

The Crusader 8 December 19, 2013

Fall dance concert features more dancers than ever before

Photos by Darsey Williams/Gibbons Media

The Crusader 9December 19, 2013

Page design by Arts & Entertainment Editors Caroline Young and Kelly Brown

Arts & Entertainment

Chorus performs carols as Christmas nearsWomen’s, mixed chorus presents festive holiday music festival

With Christmas coming soon, ev-eryone in the Gibbons community is celebrating in any way they can. Dif-ferent Gibbons music ensembles host-ed a Christmas festival on Sunday, De-cember 8.

Gibbons percussion, strings, or-chestra, guitar band, and the Gibbons band all played in the main theater on campus as part of the annual Bet-tigole Festival. The different groups all played very well, and it was a great way to get families together and enjoy Christmas music.

Gibbons orchestra played Wizards in Winter and Requiem, both com-posed by Bob Phillips.

Gibbons strings ensemble played Guananmera, a Cuban folk song by composer Victor Lopez and Engines of Resistance by composer Larry Clark.

Gibbons percussion did melodies of different songs, and even some tra-ditional pieces.

Later, at the evening concert, Gib-bons guitar played White Christmas and a variety of songs by singer and songwriter, John Lennon.

“The concert had a great turn out, probably one of the best we’ve ever got-ten,” said percussion teacher, Hal Sar-gent.

“I was nervous to play in front of a huge room full of people, but after hearing the applause at the end was a huge relief,” said junior Abby Bou-dreaux

Junior Monica Gibbs conducted First Noel for the Gibbons wind en-semble, and soloed in Country Cookin’ Christmas by Band American Fiddle Tune.

‘Deck the Halls’ with the Bettigole FestivalKelly BrownArts & Entertainment Editor

December has finally arrived, ushering in both the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, as well as the chaos of the end of the first semester. The women’s and mixed choral ensembles took a break from studying for exams to host their Christmas cho-ral concert on Friday, December 13.

This year’s choir concert was organized by choir teacher Martha Zaldivar, who is new to Gibbons this year. Joan Troy, who was the previous choir teacher, had organized a Christmas concert two years ago, but there was not one last year.

“It never occurred to me to not have a Christmas concert. There’s so much Christmas music out there, and I wanted to showcase this choir’s advanced tal-ent,” said Zaldivar.

The recital was held in the black box theater, fol-lowed by a light reception in the main lobby. The theater was packed with family, friends, and fellow students of the choir members.

The chorus performed a variety of songs, varying from traditional carols to mash-ups of more recent Christmas tunes. They also sang not only with piano or CD accompaniment, but sang some songs acapella.

The concert began with the mixed chorus per-forming an acapella rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman”.

After this, the women’s choir performed the song “Believe” from movie The Polar Express.

“They are a small group, but they have so much volume. They are a powerhouse, that group. They’re

Caroline YoungArts & Entertainment Editor

phenomenal and sound like so much more than ten girls,” said Zaldivar.

“I thought the women’s choir did a great job, and I think they had a great experience with it being many of their first Gibbons choir concert,” said junior Sarah Watson, a member of the mixed choir.

Some of the other songs included a mash-up of “Frosty the Snowman/Jingle Bells/Let it Snow” and other holiday classics by the women’s choir. The mixed choir performed songs such as “Mary, Where is Your Baby?” and “Cantique de Noel”.

“I thought the best part of it was when we sang the ‘Cantique de Noel’ since it’s one of our favorite songs to sing,” said Watson.

Another song that was performed by the mixed choir was “O Holy Night”, which the group spent a long time working on.

“My favorite song was ‘Oh Holy Night’. We prac-ticed very hard to make the harmonies work, and it paid off in the end,” said junior Mario Santiago.

Two of the songs that were sung were not per-formed by the entire chorus. Juniors Anthony Cor-tina and Jessica Henion performed an acapella ren-dition of “Baby, It’s Cold Ouside” and Sarah Watson sang “Ave Maria” with piano accompaniment.

“I enjoyed singing the ‘Ave Maria’ because it’s a beautiful piece,” said Watson.

The final song of the night was a salsa version of “Pat-a-Pan”. The whole show was centered around this song, according to Zaldivar.

“My favorite song was Pat-a-Pan. The rhythm was really upbeat and the whole choir loved it,” said

Photos courtesy of Hal Sargent

junior Sam Raines.Both chorus’ performed beautifully, and Zaldivar

was very pleased with the show.“I don’t have words. I can’t put it into words. It

just went above and beyond what I imagined. All of the songs came out exceptional, and I was very proud of them,” said Zaldivar.

The chorus members were also excited about the concert, especially because this was the first major concert they have hosted this year.

“I thought the concert went pretty well consider-ing it was the first choir concert held in the black box and it was a different twist on what chorus has done in the past,” said Watson.

“I felt that the concert went really well. We all came together as a group and have really grown since August,” said Raines.

They were also excited about the large turnout for the concert.

“I think the concert went great. A good amount of people came, and they loved the music,” said San-tiago.

Both Zaldivar and the chorus members are look-ing forward to what the next semester will bring in terms of advancements for the choral program.

“I’m most excited about learning new music,” said Watson.

“I’m focusing more on just making good music and then God will take care of the rest,” said Zaldivar.

The chorus ensembles will be hosting a dinner theater in late February, and then another concert in the spring.

(From top left) Junior Maggie Dever, senior Amelia Quigley, senior Madeline Walsh, junior Jessica Henion, and senior Caroline Buckley perform with the mixed choral ensemble.

The women’s ensemble and the mixed ensemble join together in the second act of the Christmas choral concert to perform in full costume under the direction of choir teacher Martha Zaldivar. The show was held in the studio theater on December 13.

Photo by Caroline Young/The Crusader

“Monica did a fantastic job, she was a real leader in this concert, and helped everyone so much,” said Sar-gent.

“It was full of great holiday cheer and I’m sure the audience was having a great time hearing all the magnificent music,” said Sargent.

During the first concert the the-

ater was about three-fourths of the way full. The evening concert was filled to capacity by Gibbons families excited to hear the groups perform.

“Things were pretty hectic back-stage, when we were getting ready and switching the instruments back and forth. But it paid off, because we all played well and the crowd really liked

it,” said junior Ben Gravel. “There was a whole lot of Christmas cheer, and it was a lot of fun.”

“It was nice to have everyone play-ing different songs, whether it was Christmas music or not, we we’re all working together to make this concert the best of this year,” said Boudreaux.

Junior Monica Gibbs conducts The First Noel witht he Gib-bons orchestra as part of the Bettigole Festival.

Music Teacher, Angus Aull conducts the Gibbons orchestra in the main theater.

Photos courtesy of Hal Sargent

Photos courtesy of Hal Sargent

(From Left) Seniors Drew Heffring and Avery Lue play a Christmas piece on wooden stools as part of the percussions portion of the Bettigole Festival.

Photo by Caroline Young/The Crusader

The Crusader 10 december 19, 2013

Page design by Sports Editor Andrew Schnittker

Sports Takes

The Carolina Hurricanes have missed the playoffs every year since their run to the Eastern Con-ference Finals in 2009. That is four straight years of an early summer. What has been a key factor in some of the team’s losses this year, and in the past four years of missing the playoffs? The team’s abys-mal power play.

They have started the 2013-14 season with many ups and downs. The Hurricanes are cur-rently in third place (a guaranteed playoff spot) in the Metropolitan Division.

A power play is when a team has an extra skater as a result of a penalty. The Carolina Hur-ricanes often fail to capitalize on such oppor-tunities, which is a contributing factor in many games. The team currently scores on 12.5 % of its power plays, ranking them 27th in the NHL. The Pittsburgh Penguins rank first in the NHL at 26.1 percent, and they are in first place in the Metro-politan Division. The Hurricanes cannot expect to compete with stronger teams like them with such an inept power play.

In fact, the poor power play has played a signifi-cant role in eight losses this year.

In today’s NHL where there is a strong emphasis placed on the defensive game at even strength, power plays are an opportunity for teams to score the ex-tra goals that they need to win. Nine of the top ten

Carolina Hurricanes must improve power playMore man advantage goals are a necessity for playoff chancesAndrew SchnittkerSports Editor

power play teams in the NHL, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Montreal, St. Louis, Washington, Phoenix, Detroit, Minnesota, and Chicago are all currently sitting in playoff position. The only team with a top ten power play currently out of the playoffs is the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This may seem redundant, but a successful pow-

er play means more goals, and more goals means more wins. And in seasons such as this one, with the Canes currently sitting on the bubble, it could cer-tainly make a significant difference.

So again, if the Canes are going to be a playoff team this year, the power play simply must improve, there is no way around it. There are other issues fac-ing the team, but the power play is one of the biggest

Basketball searches for consistency at all levelsPreston MoserSports Editor

Junior Blane Beason draws a foul during Gibbons’ 72-53 loss against Ravenscroft on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.

Basketball is a perfect mixture between strategic moves and physical abilities. The way the game changes from game to game, from season to season, and from era to era, is truly in-credible.

The athletes of today’s college bas-ketball are freaks of nature compared to those 50 to 60 years ago. James Naismith, when he created the game, meant for it to be a poetic exhibition, with those who play using their athlet-ic abilities in the perfect way to exploit opponent’s weaknesses.

Over the past couple seasons, however, the game has turned into a mess of instability due to lack of player adaption to the new rules and the in-consistency of the officiating. College basketball needs to find that consis-tency, a happy medium between ‘bas-ketbrawl’ and calling fouls for breath-ing in the vicinity of another player.

Over the decades, the entire sport has been in a constant transition, it will be almost impossible to institute stability. Yet even with the state of flux, and even with the theory of the human

Photo by Sean Biette/Gibbons Media

problems and the one most likely to make a differ-ence if there is an improvement.

While the power play has been an issue pretty much all season, its most recent struggles could be partially attributed to the loss of winger Alexander Semin to a concussion. The Russian sniper’s heavy shot and elite playmaking ability make him a threat on the power play, and he has two goals and two as-sists on the power play this year. He has returned to action, so hopefully that helps.

Now that Semin is available, I’d like to see Muller try a “stacked” power play. I’d like to see him put Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Alexander Semin, and Jeff Skinner as the forwards on the first unit, with Ryan Murphy being the lone defenseman. The four S’s are the best forwards on the team, and Murphy is the best offensive defenseman. This would also leave a mix of forwards Elias Lindholm, Tuomo Ru-utu, Nathan Gerbe, and Jiri Tlusty, along with de-fensemen Andrej Sekera and Justin Faulk, all good options to choose from for the second unit.

If team adjustments don’t work, the only way left to improve the power play may be a trade. An-

other scoring winger or offensive defenseman may bring life to the power play.

As the Carolina Hurricanes look to end their four year playoff drought this season, they must im-prove their power play. Whether it’s through inter-nal adjustments or a trade, the man advantage must improve, or it’s more than likely going to be a fifth straight long summer.

element of the game, the officials take center stage in college basketball, not the sport itself. I’ve always said that the good officials are the ones that you don’t know their name, and the offi-cials should let the players’ efforts do the talking. The NCAA always has an officials meeting before every season, to attempt to improve the game.

The new rules that the NCAA has instituted for this 2013–2014 season are as follows, according to the official NCAA men’s basketball rule book, rule number 10, “A player shall not hold, displace, push, charge or impede the progress of an opponent.

The concept sounds simple, yet in some cases the officials, who are instructed to call all violations, take the game into their own hands. As I said earlier, the officials’ job is to call fouls, and control the game, behind the scenes. The rule changes are a step in the right direction, but they are prohib-iting the game of being what it could and should be. Although playing with a fine line, the solution is to establish consistency between all of the officials on every violation, such as if one ref is going to call hand-checking, have all of

them call hand- checking.For whatever reason, whether the

rules are too strict, whether the players are failing to adjust to the new rules, the game is flawed from the ground up.

The solution to the problem starts with the officials, but also some of the blame should be placed on the players not being able to adjust to the new rules. The players dictate whether the officials call the fouls or not, and player adjustment is necessary to find the purest form of the sport.

The purest form of the game is what the fans, alumni, and former players want. Whether the players get paid in college basketball or not, which is a separate issue, college basketball is still a business. Thousands of people go to games every day, and not for free. If people are paying, they don’t want to see “basketbrawl”, they would want what Naismith wanted, a free-flowing athletic showcase.

Is there a fix?Is there or should there be free-

dom of movement?

Duke’s success on the gridiron is here to stayBlue Devils starting to see the fruits of head coach David Cutcliffe’s labor

When I was at Kenan Stadium the Saturday after Thanksgiving to watch Duke secure the first 10 win in school history and a spot in the ACC champi-onship game as they defeated UNC 27-25, I heard many UNC fans say things such as ‘this Duke team is a fluke’ or ‘Duke has just had a lucky year.’

Without a doubt, many of these Tar Heel sentiments are fueled by ig-norance and jealousy.

Because the fact is: Duke is not a fluke.

Thanks to head coach David Cut-cliffe’s master plan, the Blue Dev-ils now find themselves in a position where they can and should make a bowl game every year and could contend for Coastal Division championships.

After several years of building up his program, Cutcliffe’s Duke team now has depth, speed and because of a weak schedule and the current state of the ACC, the Blue Devils should be able to emulate the success they’ve had this year.

The one major thing that held Duke back from making bowl games and succeeding in the ACC was their lack of depth.

Duke would show glimpses of greatness with big-time playmakers of

the past like Donovan Varner and Matt Daniels, but the Blue Devils simply didn’t have enough depth to go against teams like Virginia Tech and Miami for a full 60 minutes.

The Blue Devils have that now. Duke will return nine of 11 starters

on offense next year including Antho-ny Boone and Brandon Connette, both equally important in Duke’s two-head-ed monster at quarter back.

The Blue Devils bring back three fourths of their backfield stable as Josh Snead, Jela Duncan and Shaquille Powell will continue to run over ACC defenses.

First-team all-ACC member Jamison Crowder spearheads a group of wide receivers that will return al-most all its members in 2014.

Duke has more team speed and players like Crowder are the reason Duke has been able to close the gap be-tween them and the traditional powers of the ACC.

That team speed is evident on the defensive side of the ball as well.

All-ACC first-team members Kelby Brown and Jeremy Cash will be back next year on defense and several young playmakers such as DeVon Edwards, Breon Borders, Bryan Fields and De-ondre Singleton have all given Duke fans high hopes for the future of the defense.

Duke has even made drastic strides in special teams.

Crowder and Edwards combined for four special teams touchdowns this year.

While Duke has made great-strides on the field, the schedule they’ve been playing has aided Duke, too.

In 2013 Duke ditched games against powerhouses such as Alabama and Stanford for a much easier non-conference slate with North Carolina Central, Memphis, Troy and Navy.

Some critics might complain about Duke’s non-conference slate, but the fact of the matter is, outside of Florida State and Clemson, the competition level of the ACC is not very high either.

While 11 ACC teams made bowl games this season, almost every ACC team is beatable any given Saturday.

As Duke continues to climb out of the deep ditch they inhabited as one of the worst BCS-conference level programs in the country, other teams will have to take on the role of bottom feeders in the ACC. (I’m looking at you Virginia, NC State, Wake Forest, and Syracuse).

As Cutcliffe stated after his team’s historic 48-30 beat down of Miami, “We’re not going away, I can prom-ise you that. We’re going to be a good football team each year.”

Brennan DohertyEditor-In-Chief

Permission for use granted by Luke DeCock/News and Observer

Duke players Justin Fox and Sidney Sarmiento carry head coach David Cut-cliffe off the field following Duke’s 27-25 win over UNC on Saturday, November 30, 2013.

The Crusader 11december 19, 2013

Page design by Sports Editors Andrew Schnittker, Sports Editor Andrew Mihok and Editor-In-Chief Brennan Doherty

Sports

The Gibbons wrestling team is starting a rebuild this season, hoping to build experience for success in the years to come.

While the team has started the season with an 0-5 record as of their 51-12 loss at Ravenscroft on Friday, December 13, head coach Jon Arm-field said that is not what determines the team’s success.

“We measure success through learning and improvement,” said Arm-field.

Armfield wants his wrestlers to fo-cus on learning and gaining experience in the sport.

“We’re kind of rebuilding the pro-gram. We have one senior, and every-one else is either brand new to the sport or has one year of experience. A sport as technical as wrestling, it takes time to learn. It’s a great group of athletes, we look to have a great deal of success in coming years,” said Armfield.

The team recently competed in the Green Hope Grapple tournament on December 7. Senior Nick Witham,

Wrestling continues rebuilding seasonTeam looks for growth and improvement with new coach

Brennan DohertyEditor-In-Chief

who wrestles at 182 pounds, finished first with only one loss. Freshman David Wicklin, who wrestles at 113 pounds, only had two losses and was the runner up.

The team’s most next match was Wednesday, December 11 at Cedar Ridge. The team lost 60-21, but Wick-lin and Witham both pinned their op-ponents, and sophomore John Hart won by a minority decision.

Head wrestling coach Jon Armfield

Head coach Wright sees season as a success

Andrew MihokSports Editor

Wrestling head coach Jon Armfield addresses his team before their match against Wake Forest on Wednesday, November 13, 2013.

Contributed photo

Q & A: Wrestling coach Jon Armfield

Q: How has your transition from Panther Creek to Gibbons been?

A: The transition has been great. The students and wrestlers have done a great job of welcoming me this fall, and I am excited to be a part of the Gibbons family.

Q: Why did you decide to leave Panther Creek for Gibbons?

A: Wrestling did not really have a lot to do with the decision- the opportunity to take a leadership position in building a technology program here at Gibbons really lured me here. I believe Panther Creek is a great school with awesome students and teachers- so it was a diffi-cult decision, but this opportunity really appealed to me, and I’m having a great time here.

Q: At Panther Creek, you and your teams won conference cham-pionships and made it far in the state playoffs. Do you have visions of that type of success here at Gib-bons?

A: Absolutely! We have a very young team this year, and I know that if they stay motivated, stay tough and have pa-tience, our team will see great success in the next few years.

Q: How would you describe this year’s team? What are the strengths and weaknesses?

A: Very young, with a lot of raw talent. Our team needs to stick with learning fundamentals and focus on speed and strength. If we can do just that we can have great success.

Q: What’s the best part about coaching wrestling?

A: Olympic Gold Medalist and coaching legend, Dan Gable said “Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”I truly believe that wrestling is the toughest sport out there. If you can win in wrestling, especially at a high level, then I believe you have what it takes to accomplish anything in life. Winning requires a high work ethic, high dedi-cation, and discipline. I enjoy teaching these values through the great sport of wrestling. Wrestling has been a huge part of who I am as a person in my everyday life, and I enjoy passing that on to whoever has the courage to come out and compete.

Jon Armfield is in his first sea-son as head coach of the Gibbons wrestling team after spending the past few years at Panther Creek.

Armfield also serves on the Gib-bons faculty as a technology teacher.

At Panther Creek, Armfield and his Catamounts won a Tri-Nine con-ference championship in 2011 and reached the 4A East Regional finals that same year.

Armfield was the Tri-Nine con-ference coach of the year in 2009 and 2011.

The Gibbons swim teams sing “Silent Night” through the first 450 yards of the 500 dur-ing the meet against Apex, Millbrook, and Corinth holders on Tuesday, December 10.

Andrew SchnittkerSports Editor

“I thought we could have wrestled better, there are things we have to work on, little things we have to work on in practice, and the team is doing that,” said Armfield.

Armfield again pointed to his team’s inexperience compared to their opponents.

“The teams we’ve played have had more experience, we need to get more experience, and we’re working on that,” said Armfield.

Swimming looks to gain new identity

Photo courtesy of Thomas Winsch

The Gibbons football team entered the 2013 season with two main goals in mind: win the conference champion-ship for the fifth straight season and make a run in the NCSHAA 3AA state playoffs.

The Crusaders finished third in the newly-named Big Eight conference and were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by new confer-ence foe and eventual state champion Southern Durham, 33-28, on Friday, November 22.

Despite not achieving its goals, head coach Steven Wright was not un-happy with his team’s 9-4 season.

“Overall, I was pleased. Obvi-ously, there were things that we felt we could have done a little better with as a whole, but I was still pleased,” said Wright.

Gibbons entered the season with inexperience at wide receiver and there were many question marks on the defensive side of the ball but the Crusaders improved on a week to week basis.

The Gibbons defense gave up an unimpressive 27.8 points per game but the defensive unit kept the Cru-saders in games thanks to its ability to force turnovers in key situations.

Senior safety Jackson O’Korn, in particular, made a habit of forcing turnovers finishing the year with eight interceptions, second most in the state.

On offense, senior quarterback Shawn Stankavage led Gibbons to-

Brennan DohertyEditor-In-Chief

ward one of the most impressive sea-sons in school history helping Gibbons average 456.2 yards per game.

Stankavage had arguably the best offensive year in the program’s history, passing for 3,564 yards and 34 touch-downs. Stankavage was also Gibbons’ leading rusher with 1,058 yards on the ground.

One of Stankavage’s favorite tar-gets was senior wide out Dante DiMag-gio, who led Gibbons with 12 touch-downs catches, despite missing three games because of a hand injury.

“I think it was fun to see guys like Dante and Shawn who we expected to see be playmakers really step up to that role and deliver big,” said Wright.

Despite having a prolific offense down the stretch and a bend-but-don’t-break defense, Gibbons had its struggles early on in the year as they narrowly avoided a loss to Green Hope in the season opener (14-12) before suffering an embarrassing 47-26 defeat at Cary while turning the ball over five times.

Wright said that the loss to Cary served as wakeup call of sorts for his team and it reminded them that simple fundamentals like holding on to the ball is the difference between winning and losing games.

“It reiterated to us the importance of protecting the football. We turned it over five times in that game and we really put ourselves in a big hole. It reminded us we had work to do and we had to take care of the ball,” said Wright.

Still, Wright said that his team

didn’t begin to reach its full potential until the latter part of the season and he thinks that the turning point of Gib-bons’ season came in the second half of a 47-36 win against Chapel Hill.

“You learn something about your team every week. I think that was a real turning point for us in the second half of the Chapel Hill game in terms of the consistency and quality of our play,” said Wright.

Gibbons was trailing by 16 points in the first half and Chapel Hill still led 36-26 midway through the fourth quarter before the Crusaders scored the final 21 points of the game.

Gibbons was able to carry the momentum gained from the Chapel Hill game into big late season games against Northwood and Triton, both games which Gibbons won handily.

Wright said that it was a pleasure throughout the season to watch young-er guys blossom into big time playmak-ers like junior wide receiver Earl Gill who led the team with 75 receptions and junior linebacker Chris Karazin, who finished with a team-high 137 tackles.

Wright said that he was pleased with the leadership by the team’s se-nior captains Stankavage, DiMaggio, O’Korn, John Mullan and Mac Dona-hue and that he noticed some younger guys take on bigger roles as the year went on.

“It was fun to see some of those younger guys like Earl Gill, Stephen Al-bright, Chris Karazin and David Smith step into roles of leadership,” said Wright.

Gibbons swimming is off to a strong start in the 2013-14 season on their quest to win their first men’s and women’s 3A championships in the same season since 2009. The men’s squad has a record of 8-3 while the women are 7-4. The men’s team is try-ing to claim another championship; they have won the last six.

“We are developing both com-petitively and as a team. We had some good swims so far, and we just really need to focus on the last 2 months to try to develop and reach our full poten-tial, because we aren’t there yet,” said assistant coach Taylor Blanton.

The team was victorious in their first meet on November 20, sweep-ing Athens Drive, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina. The young and de-veloping teams are led by senior Andy Lui, junior Noah Cairns, and sopho-more Emily Dykstra.

Gibbons’ backing of each oth-er and their competitors has been a strong point of the team in the early season according to Blanton.

In their second meet of the season the teams faced tough 4A foes, Green Hope, Holly Springs and Millbrook. The Gibbons women defeated Mill-

brook and Holly Springs, but came in second against a strong Green Hope squad. The men’s team was victorious against Green Hope and Holly Springs, and came in second against Millbrook.

While the team has made strides in the pool, Blanton believes that the team’s leadership could still be im-proved.

“Our team needs to continue to im-prove upon our leadership in the team, while every member takes full owner-ship of their swimming and position on the team,” said Blanton.

On December 5, Gibbons’ men’s

squad was able to defeat Millbrook and Cedar Ridge by winning the last relay, while the girls beat Cedar Ridge and lost to Chapel Hill by 12 points.

During the meet on Tuesday, De-cember 10, against Apex, Millbrook, and Corinth Holders, the team had their own version of “Silent Night,” the event taking place during the men’s and women’s basketball games at Gib-bons that night, by singing for 450 yards of the 500.

Gibbons will face Northern Vance and Northwood next, on December 19.

New head coach rebuilds

The Crusader 12 December 19, 2013

Page design By Sports Editor Preston Moser

Sports

Photo by Sean Biette/Gibbons Media

Women’s basketball enters conference play on high noteSenior leadership sparks hot start to season through 8 gamesPreston MoserSports Editor

Senior guard Stephanie Girard attacks the basket as se-nior Morgan Reid (5) trails the play on Tuesday, Decem-ber 10. The Crusaders defeated Ravenscroft 46-34.

The Gibbons men’s basketball team looked to get a big win against non-conference rival Ravenscroft at home on Tuesday, December 10, but the Crusaders fell short 72-53 during the first-ever Gibbons version of a college basketball tradition called “Silent Night”.

The Crusader faithful remained completely silent for the first four minutes of the game before erupting in cheers after Gibbons junior Justin Reid made his second free throw to give Gibbons its tenth point of the game.

Gibbons was recreating the Silent Night tradition made famous by Taylor University in Indiana, which annually holds its event the Friday before exams in December.

Gibbons head coach Marque Carrington had nothing but good things to say about the atmosphere of the game.

“It was great. Mr. Rogosich [Assistant principal Mike Rogosich] did a great job with the Silent Night. The kids were awesome and the support was great,” said Carrington.

Both teams started the night off well on offense as the score was tied 19-19 after one quarter of play.

But Ravenscroft began to flex its muscle in the second quarter and the Ravens built a 44-30 lead at halftime behind strong play from senior point guard Chris Corchiani, Jr. and outstanding outside shoot-ing from three-point range as a team.

Corchiani Jr. would finish with a team-high 24 points.

“Ravenscroft shot it really, really well. Coming in, we knew they were good off the dribble. They got a lot of open shots in the first half,” said Carrington.

Despite trailing by 14 midway through the game, Carrington’s Crusaders stuck around and were even-tually able to cut the deficit to 59-51 about halfway through the fourth quarter.

Ravenscroft didn’t get as many open shots in the second half. The Crusaders held the Ravens to just 10 points in the third quarter.

Men’s basketball struggles to keep up with Ravenscroft in 72-53 loss

Brennan DohertySports Editor

Carrington said that making some schematic changes on defense helped his team later on in the game.

“We needed to create turnovers and we couldn’t do it in our man to man defense so we went to a zone. Going in if you told me that our way of bothering those guys [Ravenscroft] would be to run a zone I would have thought you were crazy,” said Carrington.

But even as things got harder on offense for Ra-venscroft in the second half, their one constant was Corchiani, Jr.

The son of former N.C. State standout Chris Cor-chiani, the younger Corchiani seemed to come up with a big shot whenever Gibbons would start to put some pressure on Ravenscroft. When he wasn’t mak-ing shots, Corchiani was setting up his teammates for easy baskets.

Despite watching him pick apart his team’s de-fense for most of the game, Carrington was in great admiration of Corchiani.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s just like football. In order to be successful, you need a headstrong, tough-willed and crafty point guard. To have a senior like Corchi-ani at point guard running the show, it speaks vol-umes and it’s very important,” said Carrington.

For Gibbons, Reid led the way with 14 points while sharp-shooter Logan Bugg added 11.

Senior Moses Romocki had 10 points and junior Blane Beason had eight while coming off the bench.

Still, Carrington remains confident his team and he believes that playing a number of tough non-conference opponents early in the season will pay off later.

“It gives our players an opportunity to be in those pressure situations on the big stage against some good teams. We’re going to be battle tested and it will be nothing new for our guys,” said Carrington.

Gibbons (3-5) lost its Big Eight conference open-er on Friday, December 13 at Orange, 55-49.

The Crusaders host Northwood on Friday, De-cember 20 for another conference contest before playing in the Holy Angles Tournament in Charlotte beginning on Friday, December 27.

Gibbons junior small forward Justin Reid takes on a Ra-venscroft defender on his way torward the basket during Gibbons’ 72-53 loss to Ravenscroft on Tuesday, Decem-ber 10.

Photo by Sean Biette/Gibbons Media

Senior forward Moses Romocki drives toward the basket against Ravenscroft on Tuesday, December 10 during Gib-bons’ 72-53 loss. Romocki scored 10 points

Photo by Sean Biette/Gibbons MediaGibbons junior small forward Logan Bugg pulls up for a floater during Gibbons’ 72-53 loss to Ravenscroft on Tuesday, December 10.

Photo by Sean Biette/Gibbons Media

Crusaders struggle to defend the 3-point arc in lopsided second quarter

The Gibbons women’s basketball team capped off their non-conference schedule on Tuesday night with a gritty 46-34 win over rival Ravenscroft.

The Crusaders had four players in double figures, led by senior Stephanie Girard with 12 and Morgan Reid with 11.

The win gave Gibbons their fifth win and the Cru-saders’ only two losses came against 4A opponents in Cary and Broughton, respectively.

Even in defeat, Gibbons took the losses as a learning experience, and a chance to get better. The team took the competitive losses as a realization that they are as good as anyone.

“Our losses to Broughton and Cary have brought us closer. Although many people outside of our team probably never gave us a shot to win we knew our-selves that we can play with anyone in the state,” Said head coach Jessica Lowe.

The Crusaders are based around senior leader-ship, on and off the court. Seniors lead Gibbons in all of the major categories, scoring, rebounding, and assists.

“We have been able to rely on our experience

early in the season and I hope that will continue to help us in the future. As we enter conference play I expect the seniors to play with a sense of urgency and purpose. For most of them this will be last year they play competitive basketball and I know they want to go out on a high note,” said Lowe.

Gibbons success is based on team work and getting other players involved, and in order to win the conference, Gibbons will have to continue get-ting production from multiple sources.

“We have 4 players averaging in double figures and we average over 10 assists per game,” said Lowe.

The Crusaders continued their strong play on Friday December 13, with a 61-32 victory over Or-ange.

Gibbons rode a strong first quarter, taking a huge 26-4 lead into the second quarter.

The Crusaders had strong performances by both Reid and senior Madison Beuris, who added 16 and 14 points respectively.

Gibbons will face conference foe Northwood on Friday, before they head down to Charlotte for the annual Holy Angels Tournament, where the Crusaders are defending champions.