Friday night’s game against the Lincoln Cardinals was a game with low hopes from most students before the game even started. This came both from the stats, with Lincoln being ranked 4th in the state while Wells is ranked down at 27th, and it was also very clear that Lincoln had a physically taller team. 

After the game started, 5 minutes later than scheduled, it took about a minute for either team to put up points, with the Guardians taking first blood. But this hopeful start would very soon fade out as Lincoln would dominate the rest of the first quarter, ending at 10-22. The second quarter also gave signs of hope with the Guardians starting to pick up pace, though every positive trip down the court came an equal, if not greater response from Lincoln. The first half ended at 26-46.

Even with a 20 point deficit going into the half, the student section stuck it out and was back for more after the second half began. Even with the large score differences, the student section was still active in watching the game and got loud after every good play. Though, there were still many empty seats in the bleachers and still felt like a smaller group of supporters, hurting the atmosphere a little, even with both cheer and band being at this game.

The third quarter showed better quality of players offensively compared to the first two quarters, they were passing better and making shots, though like all the other quarters of play, had some shots blocked or tipped by the taller Lincoln players. On defense, the Guardians still struggled and the deficit grew to 24 points at the end. 

The fourth quarter was similar to the third,with better offense than the first half but still struggling on the defensive end. The Guardians did have one small streak of good plays, stealing the ball from Lincoln and taking it down to the hoop, though at this point the game was 2 minutes from over and was a 21 point difference. In the end, the game ended 62-87 after a landslide performance from the Cardinals, which really showed on the scoreboard.

The Guardians will see Lincoln again this season as an away game on February 24th with a chance to break their three game losing streak against the Cardinals across this and last season.

Wells’ next game will be on January 31st @ Franklin. Their next home game will be against Roosevelt on February 3rd.