After dropping their opening game at the 2014 Cathy Mitchell Cup, the Saint Mary senior girls basketball team rebounded to claim the consolation title.
The Sharks won the title with a hard-fought 77-67 victory over Boyle.
For Sharks coach Peter Molesky, the triumph was a tangible example of how the team of six girls is steadily improving, as they are now 4-3 in the last seven games they have played overall.
“It’s the first time we played solid basketball over four quarters,” he said, explaining in past games the Sharks would often play well early and then fall off their game and end up losing.
Admittedly there were still instances in the win over Boyle where the Sharks suffered lapses, but they were able to correct things before they got worse, Molesky said, which was an improvement over previous games.
“It was a satisfying win in our final game,” he said.
There was even a bit of revenge factored in, as the Sharks had lost to Boyle in previous meetings.
The Sharks opened the tournament with a 72-48 loss to Breton, a team Molesky said is one of the better teams in the area.
That game featured a “vintage” Sharks performance, he said. The Sharks played well for three quarters, but in the fourth they let the lead slip away.
In the Sharks’ second game, they took on Gerald Redmond, walking off the court 60-45 winners, and setting up the consolation meeting with Boyle.
It has been a tough year for the Sharks, as they have suffered several hard losses and will not be competing at zones on account of the team’s youth, Molesky said.
“It’s not the world’s greatest season,” he said, offering the blunt assessment that the team is a “fair to middling poor team.”
“We’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re the best,” he added.
It’s been a tough year because there are only six girls on the team, which makes practising offence and defence at the same time difficult.
Yet for all the hard knocks the girls have taken, Molesky said he’s happy coaching such a young team because he can work with players early in their development, with the hope they’ll still be playing in their final year of high school.
Plus, playing tough games against tough opponents shows the girls what they need to do to be successful, he said.
