4 Belles out for season after games in Hawaii
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Writer
Despite having an array of injuries, the Saint Mary's basketball team played its best basketball of the season on a recent trip to Hawaii and came home with a two-game split.
The Belles blew out St. Joseph College 69-29 on Dec. 17 before losing to undefeated George Fox College 62-48.
"It was probably our best basketball that we've played all year," said head coach Suzanne Smith. "We just really clicked and came out focused and I thought we played really well. We came out and killed St. Joe's and had everything going and a lot of people came in and contributed. Then we played George Fox who was undefeated and we were only down three at half and that was a definitely a boost for our confidence."
Some of the excitement from the success in Hawaii was lost when the Belle's lost Kristen Matha, Kate Christensen and Meghan Fitrzgerald for the season with injuries. Senior Mary Campione also quit the team as well leaving the Belles with the problem of filling those slots in the line-up.
"Mary decided it was better off for her to not be a part of the team any more," said Smith. "Kristen Matha has been battling concussions for a while and it just wasn't getting better and we just found out she's done for the season. Katie Christensen was in the same situation before break and it looks like now that we won't be having her for the rest of the season as well."
Senior co-captain Anne Blair feels that despite the loss of players, the Belles have become closer as a team.
"We love everyone that's gone but we've just had step up, especially the younger players and it's made us closer as a team," said Blair.
The Belles now look to continue their solid play against Olivet tonight. Blair believes the Belles need to shut down Olivet's 3-point shooting to be successful.
"First of all, our defense needs to stop their outside shooting," said Blair. "We need to work the ball inside as well. Coach Smith thinks that the girls will be able to overcome the injuries to their upperclassman."
"We had a lot of depth on our team to begin with and now we just have to have a couple people play a few extra minutes and have everyone step up a little," said Smith. "I just think we need to come out ready to go from the tip and shut their big scorers down. Offensively we're looking for things to click right now. We've done all right offensively but I don't think we've hit that point where we're comfortable with who we're playing with. But we are starting to find some combinations that work well together."
Saint Mary's hosts Olivet tonight at 7 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 16, 2002
