Driscoll stymies Rosary
A new coach produced a familiar result Tuesday for the Driscoll girls basketball team Tuesday night.
With head coach Steve McCuiston away on business, assistant Tony DiGrazia moved up a spot on the Highlanders bench for their 17th straight win to start the season, 45-35 at Rosary.
Almost everything went smoothly for DiGrazia and the Highlanders, who forced 10 turnovers in the second quarter and held Rosary (13-5, 3-4) to 4-of-25 shooting in the first half to take a 23-9 halftime lead.
Almost everything. Courtney Lindfors finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 5 steals while playing the entire second half - something that wouldn't have happened with DiGrazia in his normal role.
"She said after the game, "Mr. DiGrazia, I was trying to tell you to give me a blow,'" DiGrazia said. "Normally, as an assistant, that's my job. As a head coach I was thinking of other things and never got her out."
DiGrazia might have been thinking that this isn't the easiest time to take over, with a possible letdown after Friday's overtime win against Montini. Or how to overcome three key injuries and illnesses: Shaquira Scott possibly out of the season with a broken finger, and Allie DiVito (sick) and Kasey Reaber (injured fingers) playing despite their own health problems.
"We were concerned about that (a letdown)," DiGrazia said. "We have a mentally tough team. The girls did a nice job tonight, I was really proud of them. Our bench players stepped up and played big."
Reaber led all scorers with 17 points. She got to the free-throw line 18 times, making 11 as Driscoll improved to 17-0 overall, 7-0 in the SCC.
"That (undefeated record) motivates us to keep going because everyone is like, 'You are going to lose this one,'" Reaber said. "We don't take teams lightly, we go out and give it our best all the time."
Rosary never led. The Royals shot 2 of 14 from the field in the first quarter, then 2 of 11 in the second. The Royals also turned the ball over six straight possessions at one point in the second quarter against Driscoll's suffocating man-to-man defense.
"They are a very good team, we knew it was going to be a tough game, but we just didn't take care of the ball," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "Too much panicking, I don't think enough team play."
The Royals fought back in the second half. They outscored Driscoll 17-11 in the third quarter, and got as close as 35-30 in the fourth on a jumper by Jordan Rettig with 5:04 remaining.
A free throw from Reaber and a basket from Lindfors helped Driscoll regain control.
"We really didn't run our offense," Rettig said. "We just have to work as a team. We kind of fall apart with that a little bit. We rushed it too much and we kind of freaked out a little bit which shouldn't have happened because we are a good team. We just have to believe in ourselves and our abilities."
Gigi DiGrazia added 11 points for Driscoll. Rettig led Rosary with 11 points and 9 rebounds, Stephanie Haugen added 7 points, Katie Eckberg 6 points and 9 boards, and Katie Petrando 6 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Rosary doesn't have much time to regroup after losing to Driscoll, the fourth-ranked team by the Daily Herald. No. 5 Montini comes to Aurora Friday night.
"I don't know if it's the jitters or what the excuse is," Beebe said. "We've played these guys before and it's not like we've never beat them. I don't know what the panic mode was, but we were definitely in it today and we better get out of it soon because we have Montini coming in here Friday."