[OBear073akaSMFan]

Two powerhouse teams in their respective sections met in Berkeley last night. SMB pressing from the start jumped off to a 10-0 start. The game was never in doubt and the score didn't reflect the many miss layups and freethrows by SMB. Cal recruit Mikayla led SMB with 20pts and Kelli Hayes led the Monarchs with 19pts. Mikayla is playing with a lot of confidence and made shots from inside and outside. Her best was taking a pass from Gabby Green just inside the half court line, catching it in the air and laying it off the backboard for 2pts. I think Coach K and Kai approved of it as they stared at each other! Gabby had her moments driving and setting up her teammates but she like her teammates missed many layups and FT. I could only remember her taking 1 outside shot. Since the season is still early I look for her to improve as the season progress.

I personally thought the best players last night was Mikayla and Kelli Hayes. Mitty was still missing their pt guard, so lots of ball handling and setting up plays were done by Kelli. Mitty is a very patient team that try to use up as much of the time as possible where Kelli usually either work for her shot or setup her teammates. One thing about her I like her tenacity in pressing SMB and was able to make many steals. Kelli would be a fantastic 3. She can handle the ball, shoot and able to go to the hoop. Don't we need more than one in the 3 position? Mitty's Anderson who was 4-5 against BOD last week, made only 1 shots yesterday. She didn't play much..as I think SMB made an effort to stop her.

Nonleague St. Mary's 51, Archbishop Mitty 40
Archbishop Mitty (1-2)
Alexander 1 0-0 2, Anderson 1 0-0 3, Dinger 2 0-0 5, Chi 1 2-2 4, Hayes 7 5-6 19, Todd 0 2-2 2, Galipeau 1 3-4 5. Totals 13 12-14 40.
St. Mary's (4-0)
Berry 3 0-0 6, Cowling 9 2-5 20, Serrell 2 0-0 4, Goodwin 4 1-3 9, Green 4 4-8 12. Totals 22 7-16 51.
Mitty 11 8 5 16-- 40
St. Mary's 22 13 8 8-- 51

[longseeker]

I don't know why we always seem to recruit great athletic players with poor free throw shooting skills. I would hold coaches responsible. But, on second thought, I hold the player responsible. Devote time to practicing free throws. If there is some mechanical reason have it corrected by a coach.

Do our Cal players shoot hundreds of FTs for practice? It should have been done in the off season.

Put time in and shooting will improve. Confidence is another important factor. Notice the Mitty players shoot a very high percentage. A lot of private school kids do, too. There is simply no excuse why a basketball players shoot less than 50%. I realize that free throws are easier to make in practice than in a game, but a good player needs to block out everything but concentration on the basket.

[OBear073akaSMFan]

Originally Posted by longseeker

I don't know why we always seem to recruit great athletic players with poor free throw shooting skills. I would hold coaches responsible. But, on second thought, I hold the player responsible. Devote time to practicing free throws. If there is some mechanical reason have it corrected by a coach.

Do our Cal players shoot hundreds of FTs for practice? It should have been done in the off season.

Put time in and shooting will improve. Confidence is another important factor. Notice the Mitty players shoot a very high percentage. A lot of private school kids do, too. There is simply no excuse why a basketball players shoot less than 50%. I realize that free throws are easier to make in practice than in a game, but a good player needs to block out everything but concentration on the basket.

2 best FT'er improvement this year are Brittany and Reshanda. Of course season is still early but Brittany looks more confident on the line improving from .59 to .78 and Reshanda though slight has gone from .68 to .75. The person who I thought we be better is Layshia. She is at .60

[wvitbear]

She played a point forward at the state's last year. Where is the girl who transferred from Salesian. Is there an elgibility problem or is she hurt?

It seemed the game wasn't that close as Mitty outscored them in the 4th period. It is always tough on the East Bay with BOD and St. Mary's.

[OBear073akaSMFan]

Originally Posted by wvitbear

She played a point forward at the state's last year. Where is the girl who transferred from Salesian. Is there an elgibility problem or is she hurt?

It seemed the game wasn't that close as Mitty outscored them in the 4th period. It is always tough on the East Bay with BOD and St. Mary's.

She is on the bench in street clothes. She doesn't look injured ..but speculating might be due to transfer rules. Last yr when Gabby and Berry were injured they were at least in team's sweat jersey.

[OBear073akaSMFan]

http://passthaball.com/

[Schroeder71]

The Monarchs do miss 6'0 PF Amanda Lovely from last year's team. Everyone else returns including PG Vanessa Garner who missed all of the 2011-12 season. Currently, Kelli Hayes is the lone star player on the floor for Mitty.

____________________________________________________________ ____

Originally Posted by wvitbear

She played a point forward at the state's last year. Where is the girl who transferred from Salesian. Is there an elgibility problem or is she hurt?

It seemed the game wasn't that close as Mitty outscored them in the 4th period. It is always tough on the East Bay with BOD and St. Mary's.

[kat0189]

i remember mention of the Green-to-Cowling "alley-oop"....well, in the Carondelet loss highlights you can see them do the play 3 times!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUeob...layer_embedded

would be fantastic for Green (ranked as high as #3 in the country by Blue Star now) to join Cowling at Berkeley!!