Neuqua starting to believe in itself
You've got to have faith.
Neuqua Valley girls basketball coach Mike Williams had faith in all of his young players from the very beginning of the season, and that faith is starting to pay off. He also believes that the Wildcats needed to believe in themselves a little before getting totally on track this season.
After Tuesday's 55-42 Upstate Eight Conference victory at East Aurora, Williams said the team believes in itself and its abilities and that the future is looking pretty good for Neuqua (8-11, 2-3).
"You hate to keep telling a young team you're getting there, but we are getting closer," he said after the Wildcats connected on eight 3-pointers while knocking off the Tomcats (6-10, 0-5) in Aurora. "Hopefully, we can build on this. Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals said it best the other day: It doesn't matter what anyone else says, you have to believe in yourself.
"We have to believe in ourselves and after tonight I think they do."
Freshman forward Erica Johnson scored all 12 of her points in the first half - equaling the Tomcats team total - while the Wildcats took control with a 27-12 lead at the intermission. Fellow freshman Becky Williford dropped in a pair of 3-pointers while tallying 9 of her team-high 13 points in the first half.
"We had a little spark at the start," said Jordan, who added a game-high 10 rebounds. "The past two games we came out kind of iffy, so we decided to come out strong, score the first basket and set the tone."
Morgan Williams opened the contest with a 3-pointer for Neuqua, and after Jordan followed with a drive to the basket and then a three-point play, it was 8-0 midway through the opening quarter. Williford's fastbreak score made it 10-0 before the Tomcats finally got on the board when Jasmine Shipp drove hard to the basket for a bucket for the hosts.
"We get used to the flow and we like playing together," Williford said. "We want to go in and out, in and out on offense." Neuqua got a little sloppy in the second half and turned the all over 13 times over the final two quarters, but the visitors had all but locked up the victory with a strong first half.
"We did a great job of controlling the game," Jordan said. "We missed some shots and they got some lay-ups on us, but overall we controlled the game."
Malory Adam, a sophomore forward for East Aurora, shot 5 of 6 from the floor in the second half and finished the night with 13 points and 4 blocked shots. Shipp and Priscilla Miranda combined for 14 points and 5 steals for the Tomcats, who trailed 41-25 after three quarters, before closing to within 46-37 with 2:52 left to play.
"We've been struggling out of the gates and we killed ourselves with turnovers," Tomcats coach William Anderson said. "Neuqua Valley did a decent job of hitting a lot of shots on the perimeter, but we need our defensive effort to be more consistent throughout."