On December 27, the Lady Knights took the court at Rockwood Summit for their first game of the tournament, against Pattonville.


It was the second year for the team to participate in this tournament, and the girls had high hopes going in.
“Our first game was against Pattonville and last year we lost to them in this same tournament by only three points,” Junior Lauren Cooke said. “So we were ready to get back at them.”
The team beat Pattonville by a score of 68-59 which allowed them to advance in the tournament. In their second game the girls won 52-41 against Parkway North.
“We were coming off a loss going into the tournament so beating these teams brought us back to that feeling of winning again,” Cooke said.
After winning their game against Parkway North, FHN went on to play in the championship game against Ursuline on Dec. 29. FHN took second place in the tournament, but the girls were not disappointed.
“We had played a lot better in the past and we really wanted to win,” Cooke said. “We did beat Pattonville which was one of our goals and we made it pretty far in the tournament so we’re not upset, but our ultimate goal was to win. So I guess we just wanted more.”
The team had a great start to the season, but had recently experienced some losses and the girls were hoping for a win to boost their confidence.
“Our team has been a little down lately, because of our last few losses, and a win to start off the tournament is what we needed to gain some confidence and play better in future games,” senior Nikki Vahle said.
It took some extra team and individual effort to prepare for the Rockwood tournament. The team practiced over break through the 22nd, got a little break for the holidays, then returned to practicing the 26th. They focused most of their time on improving defense.
“We conditioned a lot to make sure we were ready during break, but we still need to work on defense,” Cooke said. “Defense was our weak spot in our game against Ursuline, they scored a lot of three pointers and that is one of the reasons we lost that game.”
Leading the team, coach Dawn Hahn has been experiencing some family issues and has not been able to make many practices.
“Really this has all been hard on her,” Vahle said. “We just want her back and want to be able to help her through things. She knows she has our support and we are helping her through it.”
In the midst of all the preparing the team has to do, Hahn will always have the girls there to back her up.
“It was nice for her to be able to be with us at the tournament and see us win the games we did,” Cooke said. “Now we’re even more ready to win since the tournament didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to.”