Senators fall to Cadets

The Brien McMahon girls basketball team came out on fire against St. Joseph Tuesday night, showing how well its full court press can work and taking an early 3-0 lead.

Unfortunately for the Senators, that team didn't stay around long.

McMahon was dominated in the paint by a bigger St.Joseph team and the Senators couldn't get their shots to fall as they fell to its Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference foes 58-37 Tuesday night at McMahon.

"We couldn't get a shot to fall and I don't think we had good energy. Unfortunately for some reason it's like a broken record, we go to them in the first half and say can we start playing the way we're capable of playing. We need to understand we need to play hard from the beginning of the game on," McMahon coach Mark McElveen said. "For some reason, in the past we've been a second half team. We try the press for 32 minutes, but we can't do it. For some reason it goes for only 16 minutes or just the second half. I'm not pleased but it's not the first time."

McMahon's problems weren't limited to the defensive side of the ball. After taking that early 3-0 lead, a lead they would never see again, the Senators struggled to find the bottom of the net. They scored in double digits in only one quarter, the third, and allowed St. Joseph forwards Michele Gorman (22 points) and Nancy Stablein (15 points) too many easy buckets and rebounds.

"I think they dominated on the boards, our big girls just really didn't box out, they did a lot of standing and looking, so I went with a smaller team hoping that we could generate something with our speed, but hats off to them, they did what they needed to do," McElveen said. "This was about positioning because if you look at stats we've outrebounded opponents despite our size, this one just one of those games where we didn't have it."

Cadets coach Joe Cavallaro said his team's play down low was the deciding factor.

"We know they're a full court team and we took them out of their press by the middle of the second quarter and it became more of a half court game, which is more of our game. The fact that we broke the press well and got some easy baskets, took a lead, it gave us some confidence and our post players had a nice game," he said. "We did a good job making shots hard for them and when they don't fall it just gets harder and harder. They're a good team though, they could have made a run, and I don't think the score was indicative of the game, it was just one of those nights where they couldn't get a shot to fall."

Khea Gibbs led the Senators with 13 points, while Kaitlin Whittington added eight and Angie Cruz contributed seven points.

The Cadets went on a 10-0 run in the first quarter after falling behind, with Gorman being the beneficiary of turnovers and defensive breakdowns. Once the Cadets neutralized the Senators press, McElveen knew his team was in trouble.

"I tell everybody any time a team makes us play a half court game, we're going to struggle, we have to play an uptempo game, if we don't, we're going to struggle," he said.

McMahon's inability to score became even more apparent when it's best shooter, Kaylin English, picked up two early fouls, putting her out of the game and leaving the Senators to scratch for points in their half court offense.

"It seemed like we were lazy and every time we pressed it would work for a minute, and we'd break down and I don't think we were hustling to the best of our ability," English said. "The fouls were really bad, I knew as soon as I picked up that second one I would be coming out and there wouldn't be much that I could do and I didn't get to help the team and that was hard."

McMahon trailed 17-8 at the end of the first, but quickly cut the lead to seven on an acrobatic layup by Allandra Goss, who was shaken up on the play. The Cadets pushed the lead right back to 10 though on a three pointer by Taylor Whiting, her only field goal of the game.

Then the Senators committed fouls on three consecutive possessions, giving the Cadets four points in free throws.

"They played us well and we didn't make the effort to get past it," Whittington said. "The way we play is not how everybody else plays so we have to remember to play our game and not stoop to their level and play our game."

The Senators went into the half trailing 28-14, but came out strong to start the second half. Whittington started the half with a layup, which was followed by a runner in the lane by Kiara Goodwin to bring the deficit down to 10. After a St. Joseph basket pushed the lead back to 12, a Gibbs three-pointer pushed the Senators back within nine at 30-21.

Like much of the contest though, St. Joseph battled back and didn't let McMahon get any closer than that, pushing its lead back up to 13 as the Senators continued to struggle on the offensive end.

"We go too fast, we have our half court sets and we're not patient enough so we take the first shot off the first pass. We need to concentrate, slow down and be patient," Whittington said.

Even though by the time the fourth quarter came it was likely too late for a comeback, the Senators defense showed up like it had in the first moments of the game, only this time it lasted much longer. Most of the Cadets 14 points in the quarter came late in the frame off fouls from McMahon in last couple of minutes as the Senators were much more physical and quick to the ball.

"If they do that for 32 minutes we may have different results. I don't have that magic wand yet, but we keep preaching to them. Sometimes we do it where they do it in the third then bring it into the fourth, tonight was just the fourth," McElveen said.

The Senators now have a lengthy break before their next contest against Fairfield Warde next Tuesday, at home.

"One game at a time, this one is behind us, we don't carry anything into the next game, we just put this one behind us."