Thunder Believing in the Process

Slowly but surely they are getting there.

Mt.St.Mary sank seven, 3-pointers as a team en route to a 44-31 win over Nichols School in Monsignor Martin Athletic Association girls’ basketball action that was played at the Gerard Gym on the Nichols campus, Monday evening.

The game stayed even on the scoreboard through the first quarter as the Thunder (4-3) built a 9-6 lead. A couple of 3-pointers from sophomore Jillian Fittry helped Mount extend its lead to 21-11 with 3:20 left in the first half.

Both teams were dogged by shots that just weren’t falling, but it certainly wasn’t through lack of effort on the part of either team.

“That word process seems like it’s taking forever,” Mount coach Mike McCarthy said.

“They always work hard. It’s a matter of understanding the reads in our scramble defense and understand which rotations to make. They’re just young. Sometimes you hear the terminology ‘young and dumb.’ They’re not dumb by any means. They play hard, they think a little too much.”

McCarthy feels that the old adage of paralysis by analysis creeps in at times as girls sometimes over think what they are doing rather than trusting their instincts.

“Sometimes they over-think the game instead of letting it come to them,” he said. “They’re all such great athletes in other sports that the defensive concept that we’re running this year should come pretty natural to them. It’s simple like lacrosse, soccer.”

McCarthy said that the defensive side of the game, which has been the team’s strong suit, is even better this year as they are forcing about 25 percent more turnovers this season compared to last year. It’s just a matter of making those extra shots count.

The Thunder made a turnover count in the dying seconds of the third quarter when Katie Hart stripped the ball from a Nichols player, fed it to Kelly Burns who drove to the hoop for a layup at the buzzer to give Mount a commanding 39-19 lead.

“We’ve got some young girls on the team and it’s about us seniors making sure they know where to go and to make sure they get comfortable with offense and defensive rotations,” Burns said.

Kelly Burns, who has once again been the Thunder’s defensive gem, continues her solid play as she and fellow senior Meighan Murphy dropped eight points each in the game.

Kendra Jones had 10 points for the Lady Vikings who now drop to 0-4 on the season. Nichols coach Bob Torgalski said he felt his girls gave a good effort as a whole. The problem on this night, as in the previous three games, boils down to offensive struggles.

“Putting the ball in the hole,” Torgalski said. “Foul shooting. We’re 17 for 39. It’s not that we don’t practice them, we practice them. But these kids in a game situation with their parents watching and the nervousness and everything else. Layups we missed and bad passes. We’re a lot better team than we show in the scoring column.”

Nichols was 6 of 14 from the line in the first quarter with Kendra Jones going 5 of 8.