The 2016-2017 girls basketball and swimming teams, lead by dominant senior classes, won their winter SPC tournaments in early February. Adding to their banners in Melcher Gym, for two teams to come home with a championship is a special feat.
The girls basketball team defeated St. John’s and Greenhill by more than twenty points, coming into the championship game on a roll and ready to face the Houston Christian Lady Mustangs to win it all.
For the swimming team, they went into SPC confident after a first place finish in the St. John’s Invitational.
For this season’s winter sports champions, the story isn’t the come-from-behind, underdog, victory; these two teams have been at the top of their respective sports all season long. Girls swimming did not finish below third place all year long, and girls basketball crushed teams from across the city and establishing Kinkaid as an elite program in the state. But with their victories came both pressure and expectations heading into the “make it or break it” SPC championship weekend. With tireless hours on the court or in the pool, that pressure turned into diamonds.
Girls Basketball:
Earlier in the season, Johnson’s late game heroics saved the Falcons with a last second jumper to defeat the Mustangs in Melcher Gym to hold off the same, impressive Houston Christian team that they met in the championship. Taking all they had in the tank, the Falcons went into the the final game of the season, the girls expected an intense battle for their first ring in four years. As if the game didn’t come with enough pressure and concerns, the championship game was played at Houston Christian, giving the Mustangs an intimidating home advantage in the Saturday afternoon matchup.
For the dynamic duo of Chinaza Ndee (12) and Johnson, their SPC victory marks the end of an era for the girls basketball program. After a heated battle from start to finish, the Falcons pulled away in the fourth quarter and defeated the Mustangs by nine, with the final score of 50-41.
Girls Swimming:
Unlike most sports, the girls swimming team only has eight meets to prepare for the SPC meet at the Conroe ISD Natatorium. The championship is the only time that the team swims there, making the adjustment to the new environment difficult to manage right before the last race of the year.
The team racked up three first place finishes over the championship weekend. Audrey Orange (10) won both the fifty and hundred yard freestyle races, and the four girl team of Peyton Pivec (9), May Moorefield (10), and Marley and Audrey Orange (10) finished at the top of the four-hundred yard freestyle relay.
Most of the team will stay intact heading into the offseason, and the team is determined to repeat next year and defend their crown.