On Friday, Feb. 6. the Unified basketball team played their only home game of the year, against Ida. B. Wells. With students and players hyping this game up for weeks, spectators knew it was about to be a good game. 

Starting the game the players came through the clap line one by one while being introduced by announcer Jason Miller. Every player came through the line with ecstatic energy. With the announcements over, it was time to start the game.

 McDaniel started out the game by winning the jump ball and going straight down the court for a layup to put them up 2-0 early in the game. This was a trend throughout the first quarter. At one point the team was on a 14-2 run, with senior Prince James scoring the bulk of our points. The student section roared with every basket made. 

McDaniel also did a great job on the rebounds with junior Fatoumata Goudiaby grabbing most of the boards for the team.

By the end of the second quarter, we had a commanding lead over Wells. At the quarter McDaniel put in an entirely new group, which changed the dynamic of the game.

McDaniel still had control over Wells during the second quarter. The team kept playing at high energy with the crowd feeding into it. At the half, the team was still carrying out their lead with the score being 33-16.

During the third quarter, the team played great defense getting multiple steals and defensive rebounds, later taking those great defensive plays and turning them into offense. 

In the final quarter, the team did a phenomenal job putting the game away giving Wells no chance of a comeback. And to put the cherry on top, James converted a layup to beat the buzzer, to make the final score 54-41.

During the game, the team has assistants in the game to help the game move more smoothly. Junior Lowan Ouska touched on some of his favorite parts about helping out the program.

“My favorite part about helping out is seeing everyone really excited to work with each other,” Ouska said. “It’s a really positive vibe all around.”

Another huge factor in this game was the spectator participation. After every made basket the crowd would go crazy. 

Head coach Andrew Clark spoke on what it means to the team.

“I like being able to give kids their moments. The school does a really good job of supporting us and coming out to the home game and making a big deal about it,” Clark said. “It’s always cool to get to see kids score in front of their friends and hear the crowd go wild.” James also had something to say about the impact of the crowd during the game.

“I like seeing all the people at the games, it spreads love,” James said.

Although the season is ending, you can still come to their games next year during the winter sports season.