Sophie Spolter’22 aims for a lay up. (Liesel Goldfarb’22/Media)  

After a 2-4 start to the season, the Columbus Academy girls basketball team went 3-2 over the first week of January to push the record to 5-6. 

Coming off two tough losses to Whitehall and Buckeye Valley, our girls took on Tree of Life to begin the New Year on Thursday, January 2. The game was never close, as the Vikes cruised to an easy 54-24 win. Junior Kayla McClendon and sophomore Sophie Spolter paced CA with 19 points each.

After that morale-building win, our girls faced a tough test in league play against Worthington Christian. The Warriors pulled away early in the third quarter, maintaining a large lead to knock off the Vikings, 60-44. CA shot well in the loss, recording a field goal percentage of 54% to Worthington Christian’s 36%.

The next game was a true blowout, as Academy ran away from Madison Christian with a score of 57-4. Spolter and McClendon each scored almost 4 times of what the entire Eagles team recorded.

CA then traveled to face Independence. Spolter turned in another phenomenal performance with 18 and Claire Cahall continued her strong freshman season with 9 points, but the Vikes failed to top a tough 76ers squad, falling 45-41. 

Academy then had the opportunity to avenge an earlier loss against Grandview, who knocked them off earlier in the year. Spolter wasn’t going to allow the Vikings to fall again, putting up 23 points to lead the Vikes to a 43-33 league win. 

CA will look to get to .500 in a rivalry game on Tuesday, January 14, when they travel to Bexley.