The Rising Sun girls basketball team knew what it was up against. The Tigers still weren't prepared for what they got. Reigning state champion Patterson Mill took another step toward a repeat with a 70-21 triumph over the host Tigers in a second round playoff game Wednesday night.
"In your mind you think, maybe you can contain them, but we couldn't" Rising Sun coach Kathy Stoudt said. "They just get down the floor so fast with their athleticism. They weren't beating us with their halfcourt game. They weren't shooting the lights out of the basket at all. They were beating us with layups, fastbreaks. They were down the floor before we were even thinking about getting down the floor. So it was pretty much what we expected. It's hard for the seniors to end like this, especially for Brooke Bower, for the career she's had. But we knew what Patterson Mill brought to the table." The Huskies constantly got behind the Tiger defense for layups as they built a 25-3 first quarter lead. "It's really tough," Bower said. "They're a great team…We tried but it's really hard to get the the level they are." Stoudt acknowledged the Tigers could have done a better job of limiting the Huskies' fastbreaks "We talked about it," said Stoudt. "I just think preparing for it, and then seeing how much faster they were than any team we faced, I don't think we could emulate that in practice. We had them going against eight kids on a press [in practice] but you can't emulate Patterson Mill. You can't." Huskies' star Qalea Ismail, who will play collegiately at Princeton, led all scorers with 18 even through she only played about four minutes in the second half. Patterson Mill led 42-8 at halftime and 58-16 at the end of the third quarter. Junior Lexi Osborne 11 paced Rising Sun with 11 points. Senior Brooke Bower collected six points, seven rebounds, six steals and four assists in the final game of her stellar career. The Tigers finished the season with a record of 17-5. They tied Harford Tech atop the Susquehanna Division standings but lost a tiebreaker. "I wish we would've have won the division but we still had a great record," Bower said. "It was a memorable season for me." Bower ended her career with over 800 points despite playing on the JV as a freshman. She says her fondest memories are the friendships she has made. "I just love all my teammates," Bower said. "I'm happy I got to play with them all these years." Rising Sun stumbled a bit down the stretch, losing at Fallston and at Harford Tech, playing without starting guard Paige Bradford, who was injured. "Here's the problem," Stoudt said. "We were playing our best basketball, we peaked about two weeks too early. And that happens sometimes, unfortunately. And not having Paige for the last four weeks definitely hurt us." In addition to Bower, the Tigers lose seniors Courtney Spangler, a starting forward, and reserves Alexa Webber, Aly Jackson, and Caitlin Shober. "I appreciate everything the seniors have done," said Stoudt. "The rest of us just need to start looking forward to next season and getting back to work." Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
Archives
December 2018
|