Photo by Stephanie Farley

It was too nice of a day for Anne Bruce, Overland Park junior, not to take a break from studio class in the the Art and Design Building. Bruce spent part of Monday afternoon playing hacky sack with a fellow classmate. The high for Lawrence on Monday was 66 degrees, according to weather.com.

Rivalries mean going all out to make the plays that help your team win, and Sunday night’s game between two scholarship hall teams was no different.

Stephenson Hall never got its shots to fall and dropped the game to Battenfeld Hall by a score of 39-26.

Battenfeld (2-0) became the only undefeated team in pool 16 with the victory. Stephenson dropped to 1-1 in with the other two teams in the pool.

The group from Stephenson Hall is one of three teams that the hall fielded this year. The group refers to themselves as the “Stephenson Chaminade.”

Battenfeld’s group is the second of the hall’s two teams. Neither team has formal practices, although the Battenfeld squad often plays together when the gym is available for open play.

Both sides recognized the importance of the game and the rivalry.

“We’re both scholarship halls, and it’s always a fun game,” Xiaobang Yue, Chengdu, China, junior, said.

Battenfeld had no troubles early on, making the first three baskets of the game and forcing turnovers on the other side.

Stephenson tightened its offense and was able to knot the score at 10. The team ran into foul trouble early, however, when Joshua Stites picked up his third foul just 12 minutes into the game.

Battenfeld would end up shooting 11 free throws and making six of them. At the end of the first half, Battenfeld held a 19-12 lead.

After the halftime break, the Battenfeld players became much more physical. They got rebounds and went up strong to avoid the blocks Stephenson had been getting in the first half.

“All of us were shooting and not turning the ball over, so it worked out great,” Jacob Hartman, Logan, Utah, sophomore, said.

With constant encouraging from the bench to press on offense, the team went on a nine-point run during the next six minutes. At the end of the run the entire team substituted out, exhausted.

Stephenson did not surrender. Its players continued fighting for loose balls and bodies flailed in seemingly every direction.

Although Stephenson was able to force turnovers, it couldn’t capitalize on them at the other end. The squad shot just 26 percent from the field and 2 of 18 from three-point range.

Battenfeld attempted only half as many shots from behind the arc, choosing instead to move the ball inside for short jumpers. The team’s lone three was hit by Yue, who scored many of the baskets during the run. After the game, his teammates congratulated him on his big day.

Yue said his favorite play of the game was making a three-pointer because that’s something he doesn’t usually do.

Battenfeld was held scoreless for the final 5 minutes except for one free throw the team made just before time expired. Stephenson did not fare much better, scoring only six points during that time.

As the game wound down, Hartman acknowledged that this victory was particularly sweet.

“It’s important to beat everyone, but there’s a little more incentive to beat Stephenson,” he said.

Edited by Austin Caster