In a game of firsts, this past Sunday afternoon the #3 seeded Noam Knights seventh grade girls basketball team hosted the #4 seed Noam Knights eighth grade girls basketball team in the YMSSA varsity girls semi-final game. Seeing the two teams on the court made for a nice photo but was an odd sight in a semi-final game. Stranger still was the fact that Coach Steve Gutlove, who coaches both teams at Yeshivat Noam, had to coach against one of his own teams in the semi-finals. When asked how he planned to handle coaching two opposing teams in the same game, Coach Gutlove told The Jewish Link, “It was a weird position to be in, but I had complete confidence in my assistant coaches Hannah Friedman, Arianna Chesner, Jordana Marks and Maya Krause (all Frisch seniors and Yeshivat Noam alumni) to coach their team in my stead.” In the end, Gutlove coached the seventh grade girls, while the assistant coaches did a great job coaching the eighth grade.

The eighth grade girls got off to a quick start with two 3s from Gabby Hoffer and four strong layups for Orli Scharf, while the seventh graders were only able to collect two field goals (Sage Eis and Riki Amos) leaving the score after one quarter a lopsided 21-4. Despite being down by almost 20 points, the seventh grade Knights showed tremendous tenacity, led by a 3-pointer from Naama Prager and six of Tiferet Ciner’s team-high eight points. The seventh graders went on a 12-4 run narrowing the gap to single digits at the half. In the third quarter, the eighth graders once again applied pressure with great defense and smooth passing. Tamar Feldman led the way as they extended their lead to 16 points when the buzzer sounded. In the fourth quarter, Elisheva Dresdner and Noa Schulder helped the seventh graders battle back but the gap was too large and the eighth grade will be the lone Yeshivat Noam team participating in the championship game on Sunday at TABC.

After the game, Coach Gutlove told The Jewish Link, “I could not be more proud of these 26 amazing ladies. Every member of the two teams has worked so hard this season and their efforts have been rewarded as their game and confidence has improved. More important than their on the court success, both teams play with amazing middos and that makes everyone a winner.”