Belles look for improvement against Maple Leafs
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Writer
After a solid weekend of basketball on its home court, the Saint Mary's basketball team will take the road again and face Goshen College on Wednesday night.
The Belles will be looking to knock off the Maple Leafs after playing fairly well in their own tournament last weekend.
"We were very excited to come out at home," said head coach Suzanne Smith. "The team really came ready to play Friday night. We made a few mental mistakes that if we would have cleared up, I think we could have won that game. Saturday was a real nice opportunity to play a lot of people and gain some game experience."
The Belles split the two games and now face a Goshen team that took second place in its own tournament last weekend. According to Smith, the Belles must adjust to the high-pressure defense that the Maple Leafs will use.
"They really get after you defensively," said Smith. "We're going to have to be a lot stronger with the ball then we were last weekend. We need to clear our space and holding our ground and not being intimidated by that pressure.
Smith also believes that Saint Mary's can utilize their depth as an advantage.
"They don't have a lot of depth, so we're hoping to tire them down a little bit," said Smith.
Smith also said that many of her players are starting to really play well at this point in the season.
"Elizabeth Linkous has really stepped," said Smith. "She was all-tournament team and hit some big shots and just brought a lot of intensity over the weekend. Kristen Matha was been playing real consistent too."
Senior Jamie Dineen said the Belles should be ready for Goshen's offense because they worked on numerous defenses last weekend.
"We did a lot of different things on defense," said Dineen. "We pressed, we worked on our zone and we played man-to-man. That was really good for us because we haven't really done all of those [defensive sets] in a game situation."
After Wednesday game, the Belles will travel to play in the Wheaton College Invitational tournament next weekend before heading to Hawaii for two more games on Dec. 17-18.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, December 5, 2001
