Girls Basketball: Lady Indians fall twice

When a sporting event becomes a war of attrition, Shelter Island will rarely win. The Indians’ most recent girls basketball matches at McGann-Mercy on January 13 and at home against Southold on January 11 were two good examples of that rule of thumb, as their opponents’ superior numbers tired out the Indians as the game went on.

“Unfortunately, when a lot of teams walk in the door and see that we have 7 girls, and they have 15, they’re going to sub in frequently and play a full court press defense to wear us down,” explained varsity Coach Peter Miedema. “That’s how it went in the last few games.”

VARSITY GIRLS

The McGann-Mercy Monarchs took the lead a minute into the game and never let up. The Indians had a tough time hitting their shots early on. Senior Kelsey McGayhey was the Indians’ only scorer in the first quarter, putting up 10 points including a thrilling 3-pointer to beat the buzzer, from about 5 feet beyond the 3-point-line.

The Monarchs’ point guard Katherine Gehring punished the Indians from the outside, scoring 3 3-pointers in the first half and a game total of 17 points.

Shelter Island earned plenty of interceptions and steals in the first half, but often had trouble translating those steals into points. The Monarchs were having an easier time sinking their shots and by the end of the half the score was 27-20, Indians.

But as the game continued the Indians had trouble keeping up. “Once we get exhausted we just have no one else who can sub in and give us a breather … and it doesn’t really reflect sometimes how we played at some portions of the game.”

Even when it seemed clear that the game was out of reach in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the girls were still fighting. At 1:49 Stacey Clark slapped the ball out of a McGann-Mercy player’s hands and charged after it, hitting the floor hard in a struggle with another McGann-Mercy player and forcing a jump ball that went to the Indians.

McGayhey proved to be the varsity Indians’ offensive star, scoring 32 of the team’s 45 points. The team’s other scorers were Alexis Gibbs with 5 points and Mackenzie Needham and Megan Mundy, each with 4.

But their efforts weren’t enough to overcome the Monarchs’ smooth ball-handling and shooting and the Indians lost, 62-45. “I can’t fault the girls for their hard work, they play right to the end and they don’t give up, but there’s only so much you can give,” Coach Miedema explained. It means they’ll need to come out of the gate stronger early on in the game, he said, so the girls can have a lead when they start to get tired.

That loss followed a tough defeat at the hands of Southold two days earlier on the Indians’ home court.

Scoring powerhouse McGayhey was sick that day and didn’t compete, but the girls were ready for the challenge, Coach Peter Miedema said. “Sometimes they look for her as a safety net or safety valve on offense, but the other girls responded and stepped up and they weren’t afraid to take an open shot, so I can’t complain about their effort.”

Corinne Mahoney made her varsity debut and helped to fill out the Indians bench in McGayhey’s absence. She got on the scoreboard in the second quarter.

The Indians got the score close a number of times but repeated errors contributed to their ultimate downfall. The final score was 50-32, Southold.

The varsity play on the home court on Friday against Pierson/Bridgehampton at 5:45 p.m.

JUNIOR VARSITY

The younger squad fared no better than the varsity as the JV Indians’ lost to McGann-Mercy on January 13. “We weren’t boxing out the way we should have been, and we weren’t playing defense the way we should have been,” said JV Coach Brian Doelger. “As I told the girls after the game, their effort is never outdone, but their execution was outdone tonight.”

Corinne Mahoney led the team with 7 points and the tallest girl on the court, Saverina Chicka, pulled down quite a few defensive rebounds for the Indians.

The Monarchs applied heavy pressure, playing an aggressive defense and forcing repeated steals. It likely contributed to the Indians’ particularly sloppy play; they were able to score only 8 points in the first half.

Coach Doelger thought the Monarchs’ defense was a little too aggressive and he wasn’t afraid to show it. He repeatedly shouted “That’s a foul!” and received a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct at 1:24 in the second quarter.

“Quite honestly, the officials were very brutal to us,” he explained. “I talked to the referee about it and he said that if he called every foul, we’d be here forever. The problem is, our girls weren’t fouling, they were.”

But he knows the officials weren’t the game’s deciding factor. The Monarchs’ shots were on target all afternoon and even though they called off their defensive press in the second half, they still ran the score up in the third and fourth quarters and took the match, 51-19.

The JV Indians also lost to Southold on January 11, 41-25. “What seems to be a theme in some of our losses is we just kind of run out of gas,” Coach Doelger said. With just 8 girls on the team — 7 against Southold, since Mahoney played on varsity — it can be tough to keep up with some of the other schools that field more players as the game gets into the final minutes. Southold sealed their victory in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points while letting up just 4.

The score of the JV game at Smithtown Christian yesterday wasn’t available when the Reporter went to press. The JV will play on their home court on Friday against Pierson/Bridgehampton. Tip off is at 4 p.m.