Girls basketball

Control factor

O’Neill wrests non-league victory from Monticello following Regents Week layoff

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY — It takes more than athleticism to be successful in sports. It takes poise, self-control and the ability to execute strategies worked on repeatedly in practice. For Monticello, a team that starts three seniors and two juniors, the nagging issue is finding a way to implement those basic offensive and defensive plans in game situations that are diligently advocated by coach Karen Atack.

When they’ve done that, such as in their lone win over Liberty or in their gritty loss to Class AA Valley Central, Monticello has shown its ability to be competitive. The Lady Panthers also lost a close game to Division III rival Goshen in the teams’ first meeting back in late December.

But Atack was not pleased with her team’s lack of control in its January 25 non-league tilt with Class B O’Neill. Monticello (1-10) turned the ball over 22 times to the Lady Raiders. The issue of control, or more aptly the lack of it, turned out to be the difference in this game for O’Neill (8-5), which has been trying to deal with struggles of its own of late.

The Lady Raiders overcame some first-quarter laxity and turnover woes to eventually pull away from the Lady Panthers on their way to a 49-35 win. For first-year coach Kevin Schoepfer, games like this one against Monticello and the January 9 close win over Class AA Middletown present a different set of issues than the tougher games on the schedule, such as those against Cornwall, John S. Burke Catholic and Sullivan West.

In those tilts, O’Neill has shown its ability to raise its level of play but has succumbed to one bad quarter that turned the tide. For Schoepfer, the biggest issue is to get all five of his players actively involved in scoring. At present, he has three that are up to that challenge on a nightly basis in senior post standout Allison McKearn, junior guard Tiana Taylor and sophomore guard Caroline Cannon. Other O’Neill players on the floor look to pass the ball rather than going on the attack.

But in games against teams that play a less disciplined style, the issue is more about his team keeping its poise and executing at both ends of the floor. By the time the second quarter got underway, O’Neill was able to do just that. Early on, O’Neill took advantage of its size advantage with lengthy McKearn scoring seven of her nine points in the first quarter, most of those on easy put-backs shot over her much smaller defenders. Monticello also got very little weak side help and although O’Neill had some turnover issues and poor shot selection in the early going, they still led 14-6 at the end of the first frame.

McKearn would see very limited play following the second quarter, but her rebounding continued to be a factor while she was out on the floor. Taylor, who had opened the night’s scoring with a three-pointer, scored five of her eventual eight in the opening frame. Monticello got four points in the first quarter from junior Jasmine Moore, who would net the same tally in each of the following frames for a game-high 16 points.

In the second quarter, it was Cannon that was the difference maker as she netted a pair of threes as part of her 14-point output in the period. She would finish with a team-high 15 as she also got to spend ample time on the bench as Schoepfer inserted his bench players to give them valuable minutes. For both teams, this was the first game following a Regents Week hiatus.

O’Neill led 45-24 after three quarters. Monticello had a number of breakaways throughout the game but the Lady Panthers had trouble finishing their shots. Moore shot 50 percent from the field but she, too, suffered from the same inability to finish. She was Monticello’s leading rebounder with 12. She had eight steals as well.

Schoepfer looks for his team to develop more confidence as it faces the daunting rematches with Sullivan West and Burke down the line. On this night, he said that a number of players stood around and watched as others took it upon themselves. “We also need to be in more of a help defense,” he added. “When people are out of position, there’s a lot of reaching in.”

Schoepfer also said that it was up to his girls to control the tempo. “We’re getting there,” said Shoepfer, whose team defeated Class A Goshen on January 28, and has home games against Class C Tuxedo on January 30 and Class AA Warwick on February 1.

Atack chalked up the loss to a number of things. “We didn’t have good chemistry and we weren’t running our plays,” she noted, adding that turnovers were the biggest liability. “We’re making dribbling and passing errors and at this point of the season, especially with seniors, we should be better than this,” she said.

Despite her practice regimen, which stresses eight minutes of layups, eight minutes of two on one and eight minutes of passing drills along with other areas of concentration, Atack said that her team doesn’t adjust to the speed and intensity of game situations. Sometimes her players are actually running too fast. “Our speed isn’t doing us any good if we turn the ball over or fail to make layups,” she said.

Atack and senior Polly Palhano had the distinction of being chosen as Section Nine Co-Coach and Co-Player of the year in the Lady Panthers fine volleyball season this past fall wherein they finished second to defending champion Cornwall. It would be nice to see the same success in basketball, but Monticello just doesn’t have the same talent and experience on the floor in basketball to match what it puts out there during volleyball season.

“But like volleyball, we are still struggling to get all of our players to step up at the same time,” said Atack. Palhano, who had the job of defending McKearn, was second to Moore in rebounding with eight. She only turned the ball over once but managed only two points on offense.

“Our goal is to get better every single day. We should be able to hang with some teams,” she noted, while adding that her players never gave up in this game. Monticello also needs to get to the line more. They shot one for four from the stripe. O’Neill was seven for 16.

Monticello (2-11) defeated Tri-Valley on January 28 and will visit the Lady Bears on February 1. In between, the Lady Panthers will travel to Port Jervis for a division game on January 30. Monticello hopes to avenge its December 60-45 loss to Port Jervis.

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