When senior Emily Soller hit a 3-point shot early in the first quarter, the cheering crowd had no idea that she would go on to dominate the rest of the game. With a personal best of 20 points scored, Soller would help lead the women’s varsity basketball team to victory.

On Friday, Dec. 16, JC went on to win against Notre Dame Preparatory School (NDP), the team that beat JC in the championships last year. This game has been voted as “Game of the Week” on Fox 45.

NDP won the toss up, but Soller quickly scored 3 points. They were only able to catch up through foul shots, but fell behind when Soller scored 5 straight points, bringing the score to 11-3. By the end of the first quarter, JC was up 17-6, with Soller scoring three more points than all of NDP combined.

NDP opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, but JC quickly answered with a 2-pointer and foul shot from Soller, bringing the score to 21-9 JC. NDP and JC continued score with JC keeping a firm lead until senior Miranda Ripken stole the ball and went coast to coast for 2 points, doubling NDP’s score with 38-19 to end the quarter.

The third quarter was slow to start with nobody scoring until NDP made a foul shot over two minutes into the quarter. NDP then forced a JC timeout with a 6-0 run, bringing the score to 40-26 JC. NDP outscored JC 14-4 by the end of the third quarter, bringing the score to 42-33 JC to end the quarter.

With only a couple of minutes until the end of the game, JC had a 5-0 run and brought the score to 51-40 JC. With 30 seconds left, NDP was making a desperate attempt to catch up with 7 points scored, but it wasn’t enough after senior Maria Edwards took two foul shots, bringing the score to 53-47 JC. JC scored two more points and were victorious against NDP, 55-47.

“It meant a lot to them to beat the team that beat us in the championships. We didn’t use the word ‘revenge,’ especially in a Catholic school. Instead, we used the word ‘avenge,'” Coach Mike Blizzard said.

While Blizzard described the game as avenging their loss last year, Soller couldn’t begin to say what the game had meant to her.

“It [winning the game] felt amazing. No words can describe it right now,” Soller said after the game.

Martha Schick is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Additional reporting by contributing writer Brian Reid.