Mountaineers remain on a roll
Despite a lengthy coronavirus-induced layoff, Mount St. Mary’s shakes off rust and St. Francis Brooklyn for third straight victory.
EMMITSBURG — The first back-to-back Northeast Conference series after a 33-day layoff loomed as a potential nightmare for Mount St. Mary’s women’s basketball coach Maria Marchesano and her team.
Her worst fears became reality as exhaustion and foul trouble contributed to the Mountaineers staring at a six-point deficit at halftime. But a newfound resolve and the performance of three starters powered them to a 65-59 victory over visiting St. Francis Brooklyn at Knott Arena on Friday evening.
The win — combined with a 76-68 decision Thursday night — helped Mount St. Mary’s (3-2, 2-0 NEC) cap a two-day sweep of the Terriers, but it was far from easy.
“As you could see, it was obvious our girls were extremely gassed in the second half,” a relieved Marchesano said. “We knew today was going to be a tough task for us considering it was our first time playing this backto-back [series]. But also with us having that 33-day break, we’re just not in game shape yet, and you could tell in the first half, it took our girls a lot to say, ‘All right, I know I’m tired, but I’ve got to push through this.’ We talked about it at halftime. And then in the second half, they pulled themselves along.
“I heard them at every timeout saying, ‘Six more minutes until we get a break. Let’s grind out each possession. Let’s keep fighting.’ Next break, it was, ‘Two more minutes, and we’ve got this.’ So credit to them. They really stepped up, pushed through mentally and fought out a tough, tough win against a team that was ready to play.”
Junior point guard Michaela Harrison said the players’ conditioning has suffered because a coronavirus-influenced layoff that forced the cancellation of four games between Dec. 8 and 22.
“Obviously with us being off for over a month, we’re not in the best game shape yet,” she said. “We just dug deep. We didn’t let it get to us mentally, which is a big thing for us and it shows a lot about our team. We had a lot of people in foul trouble earlier. So a lot of players didn’t get those breaks that they usually get. So it was just great to see everybody dig deep and have each other’s backs.”
Harrison was one of four starters plagued by fouls in the first two quarters. Redshirt sophomore guard Aryna Taylor and redshirt senior guard Kayla Agentowicz were saddled with three fouls each in that half, and Harrison and redshirt senior guard Kendall Bresee had two fouls each.
Bresee had scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds before drawing her second foul with 18.8 seconds left in the first quarter. She sat out the rest of the first half and watched St. Francis Brooklyn turn an 18-15 deficit into a 38-32 advantage at halftime.
“I was very not happy,” Bresee said of her foul trouble. “When I get the two fouls, I feel like I let my team down. I feel helpless on the bench, and it’s hard for me. The only thing I can really do is cheer, but I get very upset and frustrated with myself because I feel very helpless.’
Bresee made amends, racking up 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in the second half to finish with 18 points 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals. She registered her fourth career and second consecutive double double despite missing all four of her 3-point attempts and five of nine free throws. With Bresee on the floor, Mount St. Mary’s outscored the Terriers, 48-36.
“She’s a decent basketball player,” Marchesano deadpanned. “She didn’t have a great shooting night tonight. She struggled at the free-throw line, she struggled from three. But the thing about Kendall is, she’s so dynamic. She was literally guarding potentially the best point guard in the conference [in St. Francis Brooklyn sophomore Nevena Dimitrijevic], and she’s going to guard the best [centers] in the conference. She guards [point guards] through [centers] for us.
“Defensively, she’s so dynamic, and offensively, we missed her in the first half when she was in foul trouble, and I think her and Mick both being in foul trouble was a huge issue with struggling with their defense. Some of our other guards had to handle the ball when they’re not used to it, and they were really pressuring us. So we missed them both in the first half.”
Nursing a 56-55 lead with 5:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers scored nine of the game’s final 13 points to pull away from St. Francis Brooklyn. The run was capped by a 3-pointer from Taylor (14 points and four rebounds) with 1:57 left and another one from Harrison (13 points, four rebounds and three assists) with 59 seconds remaining.
“It was nice to see some shots fall, especially because I haven’t been shooting to the best of my ability lately,” Harrison said. “But it’s just nice to know that my teammates have my back. They told me, ‘Keep shooting. It’s going to fall.’ So their confidence in me helped me raise my confidence. It was shot for a little while, but it was nice that my teammates had my back. That was the main thing.”
Mount St. Mary’s played without junior forward Taylor Addison. The Columbia resident and Howard graduate, who had averaged 13.3 points, informed the team Wednesday that she would no longer play.