Xavier
Prep’s first day of play for its two teams in the Thunderbird (High) Summer
League was not what the Gators had hoped for, but they are not going to let it
turn their world upside down.
The XCP “A’’
team, featuring most of the returnees from its second straight 6A Conference
state runner-up finish and a handful of promising newcomers, lost a pair of
two-point games (to Cave Creek Cactus Shadows 30-28 and Anthem Boulder Creek
37-35) on Monday (June 3).
The “B’’
team, consisting of younger players from last season’s freshman and
junior-varsity teams, suffered a lop-sided loss to the Thunderbird Orange team
(68-26).
Xavier head
coach Jennifer Gillom, who was guiding the A team, liked a lot of what she saw
in the game against Cactus Shadows.
“That
(Cactus Shadows) was a good team out there,’’ she said. “We played everybody
(she often substituted five players at a time). You obviously like to win, but
it’s not about winning right now. It’s about learning how to play together –
learning about each other.’’
If there was
one glaring issue in this one, it was that the Gators often were caught
flat-footed as Cactus Shadows used its aggressive rebounding to get second and
third chances to score. The Falcons also seemed to control things when Xavier
shots were off the mark at the other end.
“When we get
back to practice, you can be sure we will be working on boxing out (under the
basket),’’ she said.
The bright
spot was the play of three incoming freshmen –- Mia Davis, Hannah Young and
Sienna Cherwinski.
The 6-foot-1
Davis, in particular, created a buzz. She scored 17 points against Cactus
Shadows, including three 3-pointers, and had the court presence of an older
player.
Her offense
might pick up some of the slack created by the graduation of three guards.
The Gators’
current crop of guards, at least those who started, have some work to do, but that
is to be expected for the first game of the summer.
The three
main guards were junior-to-be Mackenzie Coder, junior Victoria Saucedo and
junior Kailey Appel, along with insiders Davis and senior Elysia Fleetwood, who
can switch between guard and forward.
The B team
returns to action on Wednesday (June 5) against Peoria Centennial in the main
gym at 9 p.m. The A team will play next on Thursday (June 6) against Phoenix
Horizon at 4 p.m. in the main gym, and the B team also will play on Thursday
against the Phoenix North “B’’ team in the main gym at 8 p.m.
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