Cold shooting start conspires to let a home game Mighty Oaks believe they should have won slip away
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – It’s never too early to start talking about saving the season.
After losing one of the those winnable home games that got away Saturday, 81-71 to Essex, Salem CC women’s coach Brian Marsh had his team in the dressing room contemplating what kind of team it wanted to be this season.
“Do they want to make the playoffs or do they just want to be a team that’s average,” Marsh said. “They have a chance to do something really special here, but in this league anybody can be beat at any time, that’s the thing they have to realize. You’re not just going to walk on these courts and beat people anymore, it’s just not going to happen … especially in this league where you have teams ranked in the top 25 in the country.
“You’ve got to get wins when you can get them. I think this was one we let slip away.”
Sure, the margin made it look like a close game, but the Oaks (3-2) shot it terribly in the first half and dug themselves a hole too big to get out from.
Kathryn Laurence hit a 3-pointer on their first shot of the game, but then they went 7-for-39 the rest of the half. They were 10-for-49 when they were 18 points down with four minutes left in the third quarter. They took 20 more shots than the Wolverines (2-3) in the game and made two fewer field goals.
The Wolverines had only seven players and their entire starting five scored in double figures. Natalie Fonseca led all scorers with 23 points. Mia Marie Thomas and Basirat Amirashaun each had 17. Amirashaun also had a game-high 16 rebounds., six assists and five steals.
The only reason the Oaks got as close as they did at the end is because Maggie St. Clair started hitting from the outside. She nailed four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with a team-high 17 points.
“I told them at halftime we were missing a lot of shots and if we’re not making shots we’ve got to make it up somewhere,” Marsh said. “We’ve got to rebound, we’ve got to get some steals, we’ve got to get some pressure on their guards and we’ve got to get some easy baskets, and we just didn’t do it
“I just don’t think our energy level was where it needed to be. We’re still teaching this team a sense of urgency, where can we get better. This is a game at home that we should have won.
“I think we’ve won games like this in the past, especially in the preseason where we’re able to turn it on in the third quarter and win and it eventually caught up to us. Unfortunately, we didn’t match their intensity.”
Essex CC 81, Salem CC 71
ESSEX CC (2-3) – Natalie Fonseca 9-17 5-7 23, Mia Marie Thomas 4-13 9-12 17, Katherinne Avecillas 6-10 0-1 14, Basirat Amirashaun 6-16 4-6 17, Kayley Lynch 3-5 4-7 10, Mannal Sanni 0-0 0-0 0, Kousassi Yao 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-62 22=33 81.
SALEM CC (3-2) – Maggie St. Clair 6-15 1-2 17, Dani Gustin 2-7 0-0 4, Kathryn Laurence 2-11 1-3 7, Jakayla Jenkins 4-10 0-0 8, Akira Chambers 3-5 2-2 8, RayNescia King 0-1 2-2 2, Myaijah Jackson 3-8 4-6 10, Caroline Zullo 3-8 0-0 6, Geovanna Tjaden 3-6 0-0 8, Jolee Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Imara James 0-5 0-0 0, Alexa Hopkins 0-5 1-2 1. Totals 26-82 11-17 71.
| Essex CC | 22 | 11 | 25 | 23- | 81 |
| Salem CC | 13 | 14 | 15 | 29- | 71 |
3-point goals: Essex 3-13 (Fonseca 0-4, Thomas 0-3, Avecillas 2-5, Amirashaun 1-1); Salem CC 8-28 (St. Clair 4-9, Laurence 2-8, King 0-1, Jackson 0-1, Zullo 0-1, Tjaden 2-5, Hopkins 0-3). Rebounds: Essex 46 (Amirashaun 16, Lynch 7); Salem CC 38 (Gustin 8, Tjaden 7). Fouled out: Lynch, Jackson, Tjaden. Total fouls: Essex 18, Salem CC 24.
Riverview Sports News 