Harry S. Truman once remarked, “it is amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.” Yet it was a group of eighteen 5th and 6th graders who came together last Thursday to do that very thing: accomplish great things as a result of humility and a celebratory brand of camaraderie. Sure, they competed in a basketball game…and yes, they did win; but more important than either of those facts was the reality that they cared about each other as friends as they competed.

This was one of those instances during which the competitive balance gets knocked askew in the early moments. Behind baskets from Dia, Emily, Giuliana, Gideon and Liv, as well as 18 combined points from Emma, Harper and Cam, the owls found themselves leading 20-3 after 8 minutes, and 28-13 at halftime. At this point, Coach Adkins and Coach McDonough made some subtle adjustments, imploring the team to prioritize sharing the ball in the offensive scheme.

The second half saw the defensive juggernaut of Logan and Sam put the clamps down on the defensive wings, while the 6th Grade trio of Fiona, Lucy and Naomi put a great deal of pressure on the offensive glass, corralling rebounds and putting up a number of highly contested shots. Still, with only 6 Country School points in the quarter, OLM pulled within 8. Harper and Emily added another tally each, while Jake joined in on the scoring putting up a deuce of his own. 

In the final quarter, the M&M combo of Maria and Mia held fast, putting pressure on the OLM back court. Cam scored another 4 highlighting his lightning fast speed on the breakaway, and Liv tallied another putback on an offensive rebound. Still, it was Ari who won the crowd over as he scored his first basket of his TCS basketball career. Taking a bounce pass in the midpost, he deftly pivoted, dribbled once and–with his friends on the bench yelling for him to shoot–fired off a high arcing shot that caught nothing but net, sending the crowd into a frenzy of celebration.

When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read 42-34 in Country School’s favor, but the joy the group felt was more than just another win. It was the feeling of accomplishment through doing something together, regardless of the result. When asked about the keys to success after the game, Naomi noted that the team was “very supportive,” while Fiona added “it was so great that all the more experienced players passed to everyone.” The coaches couldn’t agree more, and were thrilled to even their coed series record against OLM to 1-1.