Slow start stymies Stevenson

Mary Kusner said her Maine West girls basketball team took one look at its opponent Wednesday and probably became overconfident.

"They (Stevenson) were shorter than us and their one tall girl (6-foot-1 sophomore Kelsey Simon) did not have a lot of experience, so we thought we could walk all over them," Kusner said. "Plus, we're always confident when we're on our home-court. But we can't do that. I think we were too confident in the first half."

The Warriors led 11-2 after one quarter but Stevenson climbed back into contention and trailed 20-13 at the break.

The Warriors regrouped, though, and led by as many as 18 points in the second half before registering a 46-32 triumph in the opening round of the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.

"The first half was not too good but we turned it around in the second," said Kusner, who turned in a game-high 18 points with 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

"Mary did a nice job," said Maine West coach Derril Kipp, who played 15 girls. "She is going to be a lot better than last season. She and Brittany (Begrowicz, all-area forward) are going to be big keys for us."

Begrowicz, recovering from knee surgery in July, was used sparingly and contributed 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Sophomore Samantha Acosta chipped in 10 points while Colleen Vana contributed 4 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.

A layup by Kusner and 3-pointer by Erin Baumstark gave West (3-0, 1-0) a 5-0 lead before Chelsea Jacobsen's layup gave Stevenson (0-2, 0-1) its only points in the first nine minutes.

"We haven't proven that we are a great perimeter shooting team but I think we have the potential to be," said Stevenson coach Trish Betthauser. "I think this can be one of our better teams if our young kids start to come along."

Claire Moller (4 rebounds), Caitlin Morrissey and Kelly Miskewicz each scored 6 points for Stevenson while Kayla Fisher (3 rebounds) chipped in 5.

"I thought our three seniors who are in their first year on the varsity (Gabby Gordon, Annamarie Cassata and Tovah Schwartz) really helped make things happen," Betthauser said. "And Kelly Miskewicz gave us a lift in the second quarter (3-pointer)."

Simon hit a 14-footer in the fourth quarter.

"Kelsey is playing her first year of basketball for us," Betthauser said. "She was a pom pon last year. She is a talented young lady."