Women’s varsity basketball shines with success on the court
Mollyann Pais, Photo Editor
January 12, 2010
Filed under Game Recaps, Sports
For the first two and a half minutes, the Patriots’ basketball game against St. Mary’s on January 8 was scoreless. Then, junior Amanda Wolfe broke the streak with a seemingly effortless three-pointer.
Wolfe continued to shine throughout the rest of the game, as did her teammates, beating the Saints 57-48.
During Patriots’ foul shots, the Saints jeered in an attempt to distract the shooter. The yelling instead helped the Patriots shoot above 80 percent at the free throw line for the first game all season, according to assistant coach Brent Nichols.
The teamwork of the Patriots was crucial to their victory. “The team’s unity and spirit are molding, even though it’s a young team. Tonight [the girls] finally got their fifth win,” Nichols said. “It’s a real spirit-builder.”
At the end of each quarter, the Patriots were in the lead. The first quarter ended 11-6; the half, 24-23; and the third quarter, 38-31.
The victory brought the Patriots to be 5-8 in the season. However, the team lacks upperclassmen, with only two juniors, Wolfe and Tiffany Clunie, able to play. Junior Alex Reddell is out with bronchitis, and there are no seniors on the roster.
According to Nichols, the team is “climbing up the ladder.”
He added, “We’re taking it one game at a time. We’ve played some tough games, but I see us becoming a .500 team [by the end of the season].”
The Patriots are a threat in the IAAM B Conference. “We plan to make the playoffs,” Nichols said. “Other coaches in conference have noticed a difference in JC’s style of play. They’ve said that they’d rather not play us in the playoffs because of the probability of JC upsetting the higher seed.”
Overall, in the game against St. Mary’s, the Patriots showed improvement from past games. “The team cut its [number of] turnovers in half,” Nichols said. “If you can cut down mistakes and give yourself the opportunity to take more shots, that’s huge.”
Mollyann Pais can be reached for comment at mpais@jcpatriot.com.