These are the times that try coaches’ souls.
Particularly
in basketball summer leagues. Since participation by the players is pretty much
voluntary, a coach is not sure what they will get from one game to the next.
Except for
one injury, Xavier Prep coach Jennifer Gillom had close to a full roster for
the recent Lady Extravaganza tournament in Goodyear.
With the
Gators’ attention turning to the annual Thunderbird Summer League at
Thunderbird High in north Phoenix, Xavier played its first game against
Glendale Deer Valley on Monday night (June 6) with more missing pieces, forcing
Gillom to negotiate the mix-and-match, followed by more mix-and-match.
The
noteworthy injury (Sarah Miller knee) was still there, and likely will be for
quite some time. Two key guards – Sienna Cherwinski (scholastic tests) and Dom
Nesland (club team action) also were absent, and forward-guard Gosi Alilonu
suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury that might cost her a game or two.
Still, Xavier
came very close to pulling this one out before being nipped at the wire by the
Skyhawks, 44-43.
Newcomer
Jasmine Olivar (transfer from Fort Thomas), sophomore holdover Lucy Sanford and
JV call-up Izzy Cernliglia shared time in the backcourt. And Maureen Ulrich,
normally a tough-as-nails, rebounding forward-type, occasionally assumed some
of the ball-handling duties.
So the
Gators move on to another game on Tuesday night (June 7) against Cave Creek
Cactus Shadows at 9 o’clock. A third game in as many days will be played on
Wednesday (June 8) with a 6 p.m. contest against Goodyear Millennium.
Olivar led
the XCP scorers with 14 points.
The Gators
trailed by 13 points early in the second half
and rallied to take a 31-29 lead on a basket by Olivar. Deer Valley then
regained the lead briefly and back and forth it went,
Deer Valley
then converted a handful of free throws for the decisive one-point triumph.
“We didn’t
have a lot of people but we were still in the game,’’ Gillom said. “Deer Valley
is one of the better teams in this league.
“We have a
bunch of “scrappers.’ They play hard every minute. I like it. If you can have a
moral victory at this time of year, I guess you might say we got one.’’
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