Greenwich Academy’s basketball team has remained patient and persistent while experiencing uphill battles and trying times against successful programs over the past several seasons and this winter, coach Jordan Griffith’s GA squad believes they are ready to make their mark.

After producing a solid effort in a season-opening loss to Miss Porter’s School, Greenwich Academy evened its record at 1-1 with a decisive 53-35 road victory over FAA opponent Rye Country Day School on Dec. 10 in Rye, N.Y. – a team it lost to one season ago.

“Rye Country Day is a team we had a good battles with the last few seasons,” said Griffith, who is beginning his fifth season at the helm. “They came out and gave us a tough run, but the reality is, we only graduated one senior from last year. Most of the girls on the team are two-or-three-year players. This team has been waiting for this season where we can put it together and have a run and a stronger season than we had in the past.”

In their 18-point win against Rye Country Day School, the visiting Gators received 19 points and 15 rebounds from junior center/forward Mallory Walker, nine points from junior forward/captain Mirabel Rodgers and seven points and eight rebounds from junior guard Madison Hurns.

“We’re all really excited, especially since this is a really new team,” Rodgers said. “It’s only the beginning of the season and I think all the work that we put in during the offseason has brought us to where we are now, especially since this is a game that we lost last year. It shows how hard we worked in the offseason.”

Rodgers captains the team along with Ruby Montanez, a senior point guard. Montanez and senior guard Eliza Babyak are GA’s only two seniors.

“I love it, I’m so proud of everyone,” Montanez said of being a captain. “Everyone on the team works as hard as we ask them to, whether they come off the bench or their starters.”

Greenwich Academy, which dropped a 45-33 season-opening decision to Miss Porter’s School after holding a lead at certain points of the game, played from in front the entire game versus RCDS.

The Gators entered halftime with a 26-10 lead on the Wildcats and maintained their double-digit advantage throughout the second half. Freshman guard Reagan Gray scored nine points, including a 3-pointer and Aneka Lakhani, also a freshman guard had five points in the winning effort.

“They are getting used to the speed of varsity basketball,” Griffith said of his freshman guards. “They have improved a lot.”

Zoey Taylor added six points, while Montanez and Lavely Corbin had two points apiece for GA (1-1). Besides leading the team in points, Walker’s 15 rebounds was a team high against Rye Country Day.

“Mallory is athletic, she is a Division I-bound athlete in field hockey,” Griffith said of Walker. “As she gets more and more confidence the team will get better.”

Lakhani totaled five assists and three steals, Montanez dished out five assists and Hurns gathered eight rebounds for the Gators in their FAA matchup against the Wildcats.

Gray swished a pull-up jump shot from the right side, giving Greenwich Academy a 20-8 first-half lead on Rye Country Day. A basket in the low post from Walker, followed by consecutive baskets from Hurns made it 26-10 in favor of GA at halftime.

Walker scored from inside early in the second half, putting the Gators on top, 32-15. After RCDS closed to within 33-22 with a mini run, GA upped its advantage again behind baskets from Gray, Walker and Rodgers.

Greenwich Academy showed it has the potential to have several players contribute offensively.

“Mallory, she is scoring a lot for us,” Rodgers noted. “Ruby, Reagan, we have a lot a lot more scorers than we usually do and I’m really excited for it. I love how we can always feed Mallory the ball.”

Passing the ball inside to Walker, who was well positioned in the low post was one of GA’s objectives against Rye Country Day.

“We’ve been working on that in practice a lot,” Walker said. “It’s definitely different for me playing field hockey to being in the post in basketball. But we’ve been working on that a lot, trying to get me open in the post. We’ve been working a lot of team chemistry.”

Strong defensive play was also one of the keys to Greenwich Academy’s first win of the new season.

“On defense, we were switching between zone and man and all of us understood the assignment,” Rodgers said. “We were really focusing, because we knew this was a game that we could win.”

Griffith credited his two seniors and Rodgers for helping guide the squad on and off the court.

“Our seniors Ruby and Eliza – the two of them have been incredible leaders for our younger group,” he noted. “They are setting the tone for us every single day in practice. Ruby is one of the most dominant athletes, she is a great lacrosse player and soccer player. She is relentless and never stops and she’s a great leader for us.”

“Mirabel was All-FAA last year she put a lot of work in the offseason,” Griffith continued. “She is playing tough, physical basketball for us.”

For the first two games of the season, Walker is averaging 15 points and 17 rebounds.

“It was really good, last year we played against them and it was a close game, so we were talking about it before, hyping it up a lot,” Walker said of the victory. “I’m really proud of how people stepped up in this game. I was so happy that people were stepping up when I was in foul trouble and had to go out.”

Greenwich Academy hosts formidable FAA foes St. Luke’s School on Dec. 13 and Sacred Heart Greenwich on Dec. 18, before competing in the Pingry School Holiday Tournament Dec. 20-21.

“We play in one of the best leagues in the country, against a lot of players who are going to play Division I,” Griffith said. “We want to try to prove ourselves, play hard, compete with the top teams and go out and win. “We are trying to build a program and have finally gotten to that point.”

Said Montanez: “I’ve been with the program for five years and I think we can get there. I love how everyone brought what they had on the court today. It was really fun.”