It has been a tradition over the past several years at Blue Valley Northwest (BVNW) for the girl’s basketball program to host a Pink Out night on the eve of a game to support the Susan G. Komen foundation’s fight against breast cancer. Fans, teammates and coaches were decked out in colorful displays of pink to promote and and display a show of encouragement for the cause. Sophomore Mya Mertz said she believes the night was a total success.

“We sold a lot of baked goods and got a lot of money for the Susan G. Komen foundation,” Mertz said. “I think it’s a key night for our program.”

Despite the successful Pink Out night, the team faced a loss to Blue Valley High School (BVHS) with a final score of 34-45. The Huskies led the Tigers at the end of the first half 21-19, and Bubalo said the team discussed how they improved their defense in the second quarter, which led to the Huskies shutting down several key Tiger shooters. Entering the second half, BVNW’s defense stayed solid but their offense reached a stand still.

“Most of our problems were in the third quarter,” Bubalo said. “We had a lack of offensive rebounds and left too many holes open. We definitely struggled against their press.”

Mertz, who was the lead in scoring and rebounding with 14 points and 9 rebounds, agreed with Bubalo, and said the team still has multiple aspects of the game they need to work on.

“We didn’t get any second shots,” Mertz said. “We had way too many fouls, especially for traveling. It’s just something we need to practice more. The biggest change that happened between the second and third quarter was turnovers. We had way too many turnovers (the Huskies ended the night with a total of 21 turnovers) and that cost us the game. Also, not taking our time to set up our offense for a good shot hurt us.”

Despite the loss, Mertz said she still took away valuable lessons from the game.

“It felt great to contribute [14 points] to my team, but they are the ones who helped me get those points,” Mertz said. “I have learned to stay calm for my team when they get frustrated and that we need to work on our press offense.”

Bubalo said the team will continue to practice and improve, and he hopes to continue the season even started than how the team began.

“Regardless of the outcome, our effort tonight was great” Bubalo said. “But 34 points just isn’t going to win enough games. Everything is something we need to keep working on.”

The team will face Blue Valley West next Monday at BVW, and hope to add another win to their record. The team’s Pink Out bake sale will also make a reappearance tonight during the chili feed prior to the boy’s basketball game against BVHS, all proceeds will go to benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation.