Lady Indians devastate Ross
Mackenzie Needham, shown here at a recent home game, was lauded by varsity Coach Peter Miedema for her smart decisions on the court.
VARSITY BLOWOUT
Even after conquering Ross on their home court with an enormousmargin of victory, Coach Peter Miedema wasn’t satisfied: “The scorelooks like we dominated the whole thing, he said, “but we probablycould have scored almost 100.
The Indians’ defense held Ross to just 2 points during theentire first half. Shelter Island prevented a lot of opportunitiesby pressuring the Ross guards and keeping them from working theball to the net.
Their tight defense yielded repeated turnovers, which created aseries of scoring opportunities for the Indians. Even with allthese fast breaks to the net, the girls had trouble executing.
“We had a lot of three-on-two and two-on-one [offensive]situations when we actually didn’t get shots, said Coach Miedema,adding “that’s something that we have to work on.
Nonetheless, the Indians effectively used quick passing to catchthe Ravens’ defense off guard and rack up the points. “There’s afew times where I saw maybe seven passes within about five seconds,said Coach Miedema. “We moved the ball a lot better. By the end ofthe half the Indians had accumulated a 19-2 lead.
At the start of the second half, the Ravens played a heavy pressto try to impede the Indian’s momentum. Their plan backfired: “wewere able to execute our press break and get some easy layups outof that, said Coach Miedema.
At times, the team’s fluidity as a group was remarkable: “I wishI could show a videotape of how strong they are when they move theball the way they should, Miedema said.
Though Kelsey McGayhey continues to be the team’s leadingscorer, contributing 17 points, Coach Miedema also knows theimportance of player contributions that don’t show up on thescoreboard: “you can’t really say enough about those intangiblesthat people bring to the table ¦ Mackenzie Needhamhas really taken the role as the ball handler ¦ herpoint total is not always a factor in the success of our team, buther getting the ball up the floor, allowing us to get in ouroffensive sets ¦ and making the decisions, it willalways just make us play better.
Senior Katie Siller’s powerful presence underneath the net isalso a key aspect of the Indians’ game: “she’s a very physicalplayer, said Miedema. “Her point total may not always suggest it,but she’s battling every time she’s in the game, so she’s been akey force and ¦ a strong leader.
Kristie Moschetta has begun to demonstrate her potential,showcasing her beautiful jump shot: “She had three open looks andshe just knocked them down ¦ she definitely has theability to score points, said Miedema, adding “it’s nice to seesomeone’s hard work and commitment pay off and have a good gamelike that.
Despite being such a solid victory, 55-12, the game still hadsome lessons for Coach Miedema and the team: “We have to work onour transition offense. Offensive and defensive rebounds were alsoareas that need improvement, he said.
But for now, the squad can take pleasure in their third win in aseason characterized by tough losses: “The girls were very happy toget the victory. We’ve been down on ourselves a little bit overallwith the season, but we showed those flashes of what we reallycould be as a team.
JV DIGS DEEP
The junior varsity squad proved last week that, even when spreadthin, the girls can dig deep. Five Islanders went up against Ross’11-girl team when sickness and an injury reduced their ranks lastFriday. It left no opportunities for Shelter Islandsubstitutions.
They had trouble in the first half with some bad shootingattempts. “We were missing pretty wildly, said Coach Will Collins.The girls ended the half with an 18-13 lead. But they improvedtheir percentage in the second half and their lead exploded.
Strong shooting from Alexis Gibbs added 14 points for theIndians, with 10 of them in the second half. Impressive reboundingalso helped catapult the girls to victory. “Corrine [Mahoney] isdoing a better job on the boards, said Coach Collins, “and [theteam] is doing a better job of not letting the opposition get belowthem on the basket.
Melissa Ames and Katie Olinkiewicz added 7 and 6 pointsrespectively to the 44-18 final score.
After losing Megan Mundy, who is still recovering from an injurysustained during the January 13 game against McGann-Mercy, freshmanBreanna Hallman is coming into her own as a team leader. “Shestepped up big time in a leadership role, said Coach Collins.”She’s taking the extra responsibility and is becoming a betterbasketball player because of it. Hallman scored 7 points.
After Olinkiewicz fouled out with two minutes left in the fourthquarter, the girls were forced to play a girl down. Still, theyheld the Ravens to just one 3-pointer in the last quarter.
“It was a fantastic effort all around, said Collins.
The girls’ next game is tomorrow at home against Stony Brook.Junior varsity tips off at 4:30 p.m., varsity at 6:15.
