Defense was the order of the day as the Mt.St. Mary Thunder and Mt. Mercy Magic were both victorious on the first day of the Lady Blue Devils Holiday Classic that was played at Kenmore West High School on Wednesday afternoon.
Mount Mercy / Kenmore West
Kelly Burns had 11 points as the Thunder cruised to a 50-28 win over Williamsville North in the opening game. While a 17-point performance by Mallory Ashe was key in the Magic’s 45-32 win over Kenmore West in the second game.
Mt. Mercy coach John Glose, who saw his team improve to 5-1 on the season, said what he liked most was the consistent effort that his girls showed, especially on the defensive side of the ball. There were no ebbs and flows to the Magic’s game. They were fast and aggressive when driving to the hoop and quick to get back on defense.
“The playing of four complete quarters of basketball, especially on the defensive end, is something we were stressing going into this game,” Glose said.
“That’s the first thing I said when we got into the locker room (after the game) I thought our defense was outstanding. I thought the hustle, the intensity on defense was excellent and that’s our calling card. That’s our identity and that’s the way this team has to be, too.”
Glose said that the root of the win, and the good start this season, has been the fact that girls have bought into the team ball concept. Defensively as well as offensively. They just don’t give up that easy, tide turning bucket after scoring one themselves.
“I think today’s win was really big because we were playing together. We were getting stops on defense together,” Mallory Ashe said. “We were rebounding. We were executing on offense, we were looking for each other. So we’re starting to play together, look for each other and move the ball.”
The Blue Devils (3-4) were led by Anna Quinlan who sank a season-high 22 points, but they clearly didn’t have the fire that helped them forge the three game winning streak coming into the tournament.Ken-West coach Jeff Martin said that part of the issue was a lack of urgency in his team’s play, but that the bigger factor was that Mercy was relentless on defense and just flat-out worked harder.
“First off I give Mt.Mercy all the credit in the world. They out hustled us. They out toughed us and that’s what I think is the story of the game,” Martin said. “Their effort was better than our effort. It was very tough for us to run our offense. We were not sharp.”
“This team really prides itself on good, strong defense. It’s how Mercy plays,” Ashe said. “I think our defensive effort today was a really good example of how we want to play for the rest of the season.”
Alesia Hamm added eight points for the Magic.
Mt. St. Mary/Will-North
The Thunder used a smothering, fast paced defense to keep the Spartans on their heels all game long.
The Spartans kept it close early as Mount held a 10-7 lead at the end of the first. But when Kelly Burns opened the second by completing a 3-point play it opened the flood gates as the Thunder took advantage of an uncharacteristically unfocused Lady Spartans squad. The Thunder’s pressure defense caused a lot of Will-North turnovers, and even though they weren’t able to cash in on those turnovers as much as they wanted to Mount coach Mike McCarthy did liked the way his defense made it a long day for Will-North.
Now in a three game winning streak the Thunder (7-4) viewed the 50 points they put up and as a signal that the offense is starting to come around to the level they know they are capable of.”Yeah today definitely was the game to show that we can do things offensively,” said sophomore Rayven Johnson, who had eight points. “We just need to calm down out there, go slow on the floor instead of going to fast and rushing.”
Jillian Fittry had seven points for the Thunder while Megan Doner was tops for Will-North with 14 points.
Beyond Doner’s final point total there wasn’t much for Will-North (2-3) to smile about. Coach Bill Shaw frequently admonished his team for their lack of focus and being slow to get back on defense.
Not the traditional tournament format where winners play winners for title and third place game, the Lady Blue Devils Classic is about sharpening your game against a non-league opponent. Thursday’s games will see Mt.Mercy face Will-North at 2pm and Ken-West against the Mount at 3:30.
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