Girls JV Basketball: Lady Indians rout Mariners, 40-22
The JV Indians headed across the moat last Friday to play their season opener against Southampton and came back with the win.
“It was our first game and [the Mariner’s] third, so our girls were a little nervous and jittery in the beginning,” explained JV Coach Brian Doelger. But it didn’t stop the Indians from jumping out to a 9-2 lead by the end of the first quarter.
The Mariners answered with a run of their own in the second quarter, making it 10-9 Mariners. But once the Indians found their groove, “they settled down and started to play really good defense.” For most of the game the girls played a 2-3 zone defense, which helped them stifle their Southampton opponents as the girls closed out the half with an 18-10 lead.
It was the third quarter when Shelter Island blew the game wide open. They put another 16 points on the board and by the final buzzer had almost doubled their opponents’ score with a 40-22 finish. “Offensively they started to come along and really put it together in the second half,” explained Coach Doelger.
Breanna Hallman led the Indians offensively, with 14 points and plenty of rebounds. “She was kind of the star of the game, but overall each of them put in a really good effort. They all played very well together.” Every girl on the squad put at least some points on the board: Melissa Ames, Saverina Chicka, Corrine Mahoney, Morgan McCarthy, Jill Calabro, Abbie Ross-Gates and Hallman.
But the girls still have plenty to work on. One of the Indians’ biggest challenges this season will be strong conditioning to compensate for their light bench, according to Coach Doelger. For instance, the Mariners had about 15 people on their team, giving them far more opportunities for substitutions than the 7-girl-deep Indians squad.
“We’re going to have to have some girls who go the whole game, so we’ve got to be in better shape than all the other teams. But if we can do that I think we’ll do very well.”
The scores of yesterday’s JV game and varsity season-opener were unavailable when we went to press. Both teams play at Ross on December 16; JV tips off at 4:30 and varsity at 6:15 p.m.
