Finally Back on the Court

November 7

We had our first scrimmage of the season tonight, at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. I don’t think we could have been any more excited. We’ve practiced six days a week, three and a half weeks straight, including a week of double sessions; naturally we were pretty anxious to get into a game situation and put everything into perspective. Even though it was just a scrimmage, it was such a pivotal event for us because we had no clue what to expect. Were we in good enough shape to run the floor well? Have we played together long enough to be in sync with one another? Could we remember, never mind execute, our plays and sets? All sorts of questions linger before a team actually gets on the court in a game-like situation, but there was one thing we did not question: we were going to play as hard as we could.

That is exactly what we did as soon as we stepped on the floor, and we ended up notching an 82-46 win. My teammates and I were happily surprised with the scrimmage. We were in much better shape that we thought, we worked together well despite the fact that our season is just over three weeks old, and we played more poised and composed than one would expect of a young team like ours playing in such a “run and gun” offense. The game was very physical, with lots of fouls and pushing and shoving under the basket, but we held our own and made sure to stay relaxed in situations that often get teams flustered. We were led by an incredible frontcourt duo of returning Liberty League Honorable Mention forward Emily Haeuser and freshman Kristyn Tempora, who poured in 17 points in her college debut. But the win was truly a team effort with everyone contributing and playing their role.

What I found most impressive about the scrimmage tonight was the selflessness with which our entire team played with. Just about every team I’ve played on in my basketball career has had that one girl who cares more about getting her twenty points every night than making sure her team walks away with a win; the girl who puts herself in front of her team. Sometimes, that one girl can ruin the entire chemistry or dynamic of a team: no one wants to play with someone so selfish. But it was clear tonight that we were not dealing with that kind of problem in the least. We knew that we could best exploit the defense through our post play so everyone looked to get the ball inside whenever possible, and those playing on the blocks played like we needed them to. Nobody was trying to jack up their own stats or look like the game hero, even when the lead grew to more than 20 points. That kind of unselfishness often goes unnoticed, but it is instrumental in any team’s success, and it definitely will be a major part of ours.

As well as the scrimmage went, there were, naturally, things that we definitely need to work on. There are certain concepts of the game both offensively and defensively that we will need to focus on. But tonight we realized that we had the work ethic, the desire, and the unselfishness to be successful this year. Everything else will stem from that.