Sycamore routs Metea Valley at Oswego East
The good thing about back-to-back holiday tournament games is that you can quickly get back on the court and try and erase the memories of a not-so-merry effort.
Metea Valley's girls basketball team scored just 4 points in the second half Monday morning against Sycamore and dropped its Oswego East Holiday Tournament opener 43-22. The Spartans led just 20-18 at the half before holding the Mustangs to just 2 points in each of the final two quarters while Metea turned the ball over 13 times in the second half.
"It seemed like we were a little tired. It's been a long week," said Mustangs junior Skye Lane. "We've got to come back tomorrow and really bring the energy. This was not our team today."
The 4-7 Mustangs are right back in action at 10 a.m. Tuesday with a consolation bracket contest against IC Catholic Prep, which fell to Oswego East in Monday's 8 a.m. tipoff. Metea coach Cedric Williams is counting on a better result, at least in terms of his players' effort from start to finish.
"In the second half we struggled a little with the energy," he said. "There are just some things as a player that you have got to come out and do. As a coach you try and prepare them and put them in the right situations in practice, but energy and effort, we can't teach that."
The Mustangs took an 8-4 lead early after a steal by Brianna Hall led to a fastbreak bucket by Janiece Thomas. The lead was 10-7 after a score by Jamairrah Woods, but Sycamore drew even at 10-10 after one quarter following a 3-pointer by Kate Majerus, who finished with a game-high 11 points.
Thomas dropped in the Mustangs lone 3 of the game in the second quarter, but Sycamore took control with 12-2 third quarter and followed that up with an 11-2 fourth quarter.
"We made some adjustments at halftime and our girls played outstanding in the second half, giving up 4 points," Spartans coach Brett Goff said. "I was very pleased that we played good team defense because they have quite a few options that we needed to take away."
Despite its usual size edge in the paint, the Mustangs never really got going on offense. Thomas led the way with 5 points and Lane and Woods managed just 4 points. To make matters worse, the Mustangs missed 7 of 8 free throws in the early morning affair.
"We've just got to finish and play the game all the way through," Lane said. "And keep the energy up and keep ourselves high and pick each other up. We'll be back tomorrow."
Williams added: "We'll come out tomorrow and see if we get a different attitude and see if we can get a different outcome. We've been battling that all year long - turnovers and turnovers. We've just got to continue to work hard, battle through it and bounce back with a positive attitude."