McLean’s McDance-a-thon club, a student-run organization dedicated to raising money for Children’s National Hospital, hosted their first student versus teachers basketball game during Highlander time on Friday, Feb. 10th.

The club organizes different fundraisers throughout the year such as bake sales, cannings, and incentive days leading up to their annual Dance Marathon.

“We partner closely with the hospital and all the money we raise goes towards pediatric care, medical supplies, and other gifts and amenities for the kids,” said McDance-a-thon head Sasha Zeltser.

The game required a $2 admission fee, with all of the proceeds going directly to Children’s National through the McDance-a-thon club.

“We raised over $500 from the basketball game and that makes a huge impact for Children’s National,” Zeltser said. “The dance is only a little over a month away so this is a really important time for us to take any opportunity to raise money in preparation.”

The student team was composed of a few notable players who showed some hustle early on in the game. This was well matched by the teacher team, who had a deep bench and cycled through their players quickly.

“I feel like we communicated really well, even if it didn’t work out in the end, because we lost,” math teacher Matthew Christianson said.

The students were close behind at the end of the first half, and ultimately took control at the end of the second half.

“We had some good teamwork and coordination even though we didn’t have any practice together,” Christianson said. “We did well at overcoming that setback.”

The game was tied up until the last few seconds of the game, where sophomore Ben Irish scored a winning buzzer-beater three pointer to bring home the victory for the student team.

“It was fun to play against the teachers and one of my own teachers, Mr. Blackford,” Irish said. “I had a great time playing knowing we got to raise money for McDance-a-thon and I’m glad we were able to win.”