December 01, 2008 10:12 am
—
By PAUL T. WILCOXEN
paul.wilcoxen@register-news.com
SALEM — Success has eluded the Lady Rams of Mt. Vernon the last five years at the Salem Thanksgiving Tournament after another eighth-place finish over the weekend.
In fact, since winning the tournament in 2003, the Lady Rams have finished in eighth place three times (04, 05, and 08) and seventh place in back-to-back seasons of 06 and 07.
Mt. Vernon did manage to secure a win at Salem, against Carlyle, but the Lady Indians rebounded to defeat Mt. Vernon for seventh place on Saturday, 59-47.
“It’s tough when you’re one and four because it’s hard to get some confidence going, but we’re going to keep working,” said Mt. Vernon coach Sara Rennie. “If we keep working I think this team will be a good basketball team down the road.
“Every year you hope that you’re better at the end than you are at the beginning. We’ve got post-season to look forward to. We’re taking some lumps right now, but you’ve got to walk away and just call them valuable experiences and hope your team doesn’t get too down.”
Tonight, the Lady Rams will travel to Cahokia and try to get back on the winning track.
The quick turnaround between games isn’t ideal for coach Rennie, especially with her team coming off a tough tournament, but she is looking to move forward from the weekend.
“Cahokia’s a program that we’ve had some success against, but at the same time we know we have to go over there and play hard because they’re not going to be a team that lays down and dies,” said Rennie.
“We’re going to have to play hard and we’re going to have to get some things done, especially on both ends. Rebounding, [this] has really been a weakness for us. There’s no answer to that other than it is 99 percent effort. We have to have that effort. We have to crash the boards and get some position that way.”
This will also be the team’s sixth straight game away from home, with the team’s first home game scheduled for Thursday.
“It’s a huge challenge, especially since it’s a nearly two hour drive,” said Rennie. “They [had Sunday] to rest and hopefully come out [tonight], chomping at the bit a little bit and hopefully trying to get back that winning attitude.”
After the Lady Rams took out Carlyle in Game 1 of the Lady Wildcat Tournament, Mt. Vernon dropped games to Belleville East (48-46), Salem 974-58), Centralia (50-37), and Carlyle (59-47).
Mt. Vernon shot 37 percent (87 of 237) during the five games. The Lady Rams surrendered 267 points, while scoring 229, which turns out to be a difference (by average) of 7.6 points per game.
Right now, coach Rennie will be looking for more consistency in her team’s scoring, especially after the Lady Rams’ struggled against Centralia.
In that game, the Annies limited touches to Mariah Fleming, who is Mt. Vernon’s leading scorer, with a box-and-1 defense. So, the issue for Rennie and her coach staff will be to figure out how to keep Fleming involved in the offense, as well as making sure all other players have a role in the offense.
“You have to include her,” said Rennie. “You can’t just play without her [and] I think we got caught playing without her at times.”
Heading into Saturday’s sessions Fleming was sitting at 23 points per game. But after being held to 10 points against Centralia and throwing in 18 versus Carlyle, the IUPUI bound senior saw her average dip to 19.4.
“After two weeks of practice we really thought we’d have a better showing, but you have to remember, as a coach, you’re still playing a lot of young people,” said Rennie.
“We’re still bringing freshmen and sophomores off the bench. We have one really established senior in the program [and] a couple juniors to go with her. My juniors and seniors have to start stepping it up and being a little more consistent throughout the game.”
Another issue that coach Rennie says her team must improve on is rebounding.
Mt. Vernon is being out-rebounded by its opponents, 150-138. They average 27.6 boards per game, while giving up 30.
The Lady Indians had a decisive 43-29 advantage on the glass in their seventh-place win over Mt. Vernon.
“We’ve got five guards on the floor,” said Rennie. “No real true post [player] in the program on the floor right now. I think it’s a struggle for us because they have guard mentalities. We have to be able to rebound from the guard spots. I’ve said that all along and we really haven’t done that. In order to be successful we’ll have to do it.”
Sophomore Ronita Long is averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds per game. Haley Randolph (sophomore) is scoring at a 4.6 per game clip and Moriah Kirkpatrick (junior) has an average of 4.8 points per game.
Along with Jacquelyn Backstrom [who returned to the line up over the weekend], coach Rennie is confident that others will step up and bridge the scoring gap between Fleming and the rest of the team.
Other players who have contributed thus far include Alaina Reeves (sophomore), Cheyenne Piper (freshman), Sara Palmer (junior), Jessica Green (freshman) and Beloved Porter (senior).
“You hope your freshmen and sophomores can get some game experience and get better as the season progresses,” noted Rennie. “It’s tough. It’s tough on my young kids right now.
“To throw them into games like this when, realistically they’re JV players right now, they’re thrown into these varsity contests and [we] put a lot of responsibility on them and a lot of responsibility on their shoulders.”
Junior varsity action at Cahokia is set to begin at 6:15 p.m.By PAUL T. WILCOXEN
paul.wilcoxen@register-news.com
SALEM — Success has eluded the Lady Rams of Mt. Vernon the last five years at the Salem Thanksgiving Tournament after another eighth-place finish over the weekend.
In fact, since winning the tournament in 2003, the Lady Rams have finished in eighth place three times (04, 05, and 08) and seventh place in back-to-back seasons of 06 and 07.
Mt. Vernon did manage to secure a win at Salem, against Carlyle, but the Lady Indians rebounded to defeat Mt. Vernon for seventh place on Saturday, 59-47.
“It’s tough when you’re one and four because it’s hard to get some confidence going, but we’re going to keep working,” said Mt. Vernon coach Sara Rennie. “If we keep working I think this team will be a good basketball team down the road.
“Every year you hope that you’re better at the end than you are at the beginning. We’ve got post-season to look forward to. We’re taking some lumps right now, but you’ve got to walk away and just call them valuable experiences and hope your team doesn’t get too down.”
Tonight, the Lady Rams will travel to Cahokia and try to get back on the winning track.
The quick turnaround between games isn’t ideal for coach Rennie, especially with her team coming off a tough tournament, but she is looking to move forward from the weekend.
“Cahokia’s a program that we’ve had some success against, but at the same time we know we have to go over there and play hard because they’re not going to be a team that lays down and dies,” said Rennie.
“We’re going to have to play hard and we’re going to have to get some things done, especially on both ends. Rebounding, [this] has really been a weakness for us. There’s no answer to that other than it is 99 percent effort. We have to have that effort. We have to crash the boards and get some position that way.”
This will also be the team’s sixth straight game away from home, with the team’s first home game scheduled for Thursday.
“It’s a huge challenge, especially since it’s a nearly two hour drive,” said Rennie. “They [had Sunday] to rest and hopefully come out [tonight], chomping at the bit a little bit and hopefully trying to get back that winning attitude.”
After the Lady Rams took out Carlyle in Game 1 of the Lady Wildcat Tournament, Mt. Vernon dropped games to Belleville East (48-46), Salem 974-58), Centralia (50-37), and Carlyle (59-47).
Mt. Vernon shot 37 percent (87 of 237) during the five games. The Lady Rams surrendered 267 points, while scoring 229, which turns out to be a difference (by average) of 7.6 points per game.
Right now, coach Rennie will be looking for more consistency in her team’s scoring, especially after the Lady Rams’ struggled against Centralia.
In that game, the Annies limited touches to Mariah Fleming, who is Mt. Vernon’s leading scorer, with a box-and-1 defense. So, the issue for Rennie and her coach staff will be to figure out how to keep Fleming involved in the offense, as well as making sure all other players have a role in the offense.
“You have to include her,” said Rennie. “You can’t just play without her [and] I think we got caught playing without her at times.”
Heading into Saturday’s sessions Fleming was sitting at 23 points per game. But after being held to 10 points against Centralia and throwing in 18 versus Carlyle, the IUPUI bound senior saw her average dip to 19.4.
“After two weeks of practice we really thought we’d have a better showing, but you have to remember, as a coach, you’re still playing a lot of young people,” said Rennie.
“We’re still bringing freshmen and sophomores off the bench. We have one really established senior in the program [and] a couple juniors to go with her. My juniors and seniors have to start stepping it up and being a little more consistent throughout the game.”
Another issue that coach Rennie says her team must improve on is rebounding.
Mt. Vernon is being out-rebounded by its opponents, 150-138. They average 27.6 boards per game, while giving up 30.
The Lady Indians had a decisive 43-29 advantage on the glass in their seventh-place win over Mt. Vernon.
“We’ve got five guards on the floor,” said Rennie. “No real true post [player] in the program on the floor right now. I think it’s a struggle for us because they have guard mentalities. We have to be able to rebound from the guard spots. I’ve said that all along and we really haven’t done that. In order to be successful we’ll have to do it.”
Sophomore Ronita Long is averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds per game. Haley Randolph (sophomore) is scoring at a 4.6 per game clip and Moriah Kirkpatrick (junior) has an average of 4.8 points per game.
Along with Jacquelyn Backstrom [who returned to the line up over the weekend], coach Rennie is confident that others will step up and bridge the scoring gap between Fleming and the rest of the team.
Other players who have contributed thus far include Alaina Reeves (sophomore), Cheyenne Piper (freshman), Sara Palmer (junior), Jessica Green (freshman) and Beloved Porter (senior).
“You hope your freshmen and sophomores can get some game experience and get better as the season progresses,” noted Rennie. “It’s tough. It’s tough on my young kids right now.
“To throw them into games like this when, realistically they’re JV players right now, they’re thrown into these varsity contests and [we] put a lot of responsibility on them and a lot of responsibility on their shoulders.”
Junior varsity action at Cahokia is set to begin at 6:15 p.m.
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Photos
Moriah Kirkpatrick