Girl's b-ball triple wins

Until three years ago, girls' basketball coach William Lindsey had never suffered a losing season in his tenure as the girls' basketball coach at Blair. A lot has changed since then.

After a dismal 1-22 record in the 1999-2000 season, Lindsey's squad tripled its win total the next season to 3-20. Composed primarily of sophomores and juniors, the budding Blazer team of 2001-2002 once again tripled the win total of the previous season but still finished below .500 at 9-14 and failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs.

The team flirted with a .500 mark for much of the season with the pinnacle of the team's success coming on Dec 20, when it managed to upset a talented Quince Orchard High School (QO) team, 45-41. Additionally, Lindsey recorded his 300th coaching win on Jan 11 in a convincing victory over Gaithersburg High School.

This season began on a sour note for Lindsey's young team. Four consecutive losses to Magruder, Paint Branch, Springbrook and Walter Johnson high schools appeared to foreshadow another bad season. But suddenly, after snapping its string of losses with the QO win, Blair went on a roll. The Gaithersburg Holiday Tournament was a turning point for the team as it established a solid rotation of frontcourt players.

Sophomore post players Caroline Kuttner and Emily Ramsay shined in the tourney. Kuttner was voted to the Tournament's All-Star team while Ramsay scored 23 points in one game, a milestone no other Blazer surpassed this season.

Along with the sophomore duo, senior Erin Ivey, a first-year Walter Johnson High School transfer, stepped up on both ends of the court. In the Blazers' last game of the season, a disappointing 54-38 first-round playoff loss to Wootton High School, Ivey scored 12 points.
When the Blazer guards failed to hit shots from beyond the arc, Lindsey relied on his post players to produce offensively. "I was very pleased with our inside play. When the perimeter play didn't kick in, it fell on them," said Lindsey.

This year's team showed much promise for the future. Lindsey believes his squad has come a long way in its overall play. "No matter how I look at it, there was improvement. We tripled our number of victories. We've beaten good teams and lost to good teams," said Lindsey.
The outlook for next season promises to be even better, with all but three players returning. Lindsey is confident and optimistic for next season saying, "I anticipate us being a lot more competitive [next year]."