Greenwich High School’s girls basketball team began its 2021-2022 season with a tough 52-51 loss against visiting Kolbe Cathedral in a non-conference game held on Tuesday night. The Cardinals (0-1) overcame a slow start and almost pulled out a season-opening victory, but the visitors held on for the one-point win.

Senior guard Gillian Frey helped ignite the Cardinals. Frey scored a career-high 13 points, including three 3-pointers to pace Greenwich. Carolyn Frankle, a junior, led Greenwich in scoring, pouring in a team-high 16 points. Senior guard and co-captain Kristin Riggs also sparked the Cardinals, adding 10 points.

“We started off flat in the first half and picked it up in the second half,” Riggs said. “Frankie (Frankle) and Frey stepped up tonight and I was really proud of the way we came back. At the end of the day, we are still learning to work together, but we are going to use this one-point loss as motivation for our upcoming games.”

Cami Jablonski, a senior forward, grabbed eight rebounds (four offensive, four defensive), senior forward Kelly Martyanov snared five rebounds and Zinaya Huggins totaled five rebounds for Greenwich. Riggs had four rebounds, senior forward/co-captain Kayla Anderson tallied three rebounds and sophomore Julia Monteiro and junior Laura Smego each pulled down two rebounds for the Cards.

“We started off very flat, giving bad passes and being very passive on defense,” Anderson said. “But I was really proud of the girls that stepped up in the second half, specifically, Gillian and Carolyn. Gillian knocked down many clutch shots and Carolyn was the spark of energy we desperately needed for the comeback.”

Frankle notched four assists and three steals, while junior guard Sophia Sergio had three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Anderson, Riggs and Jablonski each had one assist and one steal for Greenwich, which is in action again on Saturday. The Cardinals will travel to Newtown on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup.

“Even though the end result didn’t go our way, this game was 100 percent a learning opportunity,” Anderson said. “We will take what we did well, forget what we did wrong and get to work tomorrow in practice for our next game on Saturday.”