Father McGivney vs St Elmo: 5 key takeaways
Father McGivney hosted St. Elmo (BSE) Friday evening. It was an exciting back and forth game. St. Elmo jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the 1st quarter. Father McGivney came back in the 2nd to take a 21-20 halftime…
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Continue ReadingFather McGivney hosted St. Elmo (BSE) Friday evening. It was an exciting back and forth game. St. Elmo jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the 1st quarter. Father McGivney came back in the 2nd to take a 21-20 halftime lead. The see saw theme continued through the second half. With St Elmo up by 1 Father McGivney hit a 3 with 4.4 seconds to get the win.
- Like many good teams, Father McGivney relies on its’ defense to create offense. With Anna McKee and Macy Hoppes pressuring the ball they create turnovers. Between the two players they are getting 10 steals per game. This leads to many easy layups for the team. Anna is tall for a guard and has long arms, allowing her to get a hand on many passes. Macy is a strong and tough player that plays the passing lanes looking for steals. The defense was the difference in this game.
- St. Elmo had some success from the 3 point line against the zone defense. Olivia Campbell hit from the outside 3 times and the McGivney defense was tracking her every move. She has a nice pure stroke and even those shots that didn’t go in looked like they would. Olivia is a 5’8 sophomore that should be tracked by small colleges that need a shooter.
- Offensively the Lady Griffins got a contribution from 4 players. McKee had 16 and Hoppes had 12 to lead the team. The inside players, Charlize Luehmann and Caitlyn Pendall had 7 and 6 to round out the scoring. Charlize is a 5’10 freshman and Pendall is 5’8 senior. These two do a very good job of getting position inside and finishing.
- St. Elmo has a young team. There are only 2 seniors on the roster. During crunch time they had 3 juniors, a freshman and a sophomore on the floor. Most of the other reserves were sophomores and juniors. They should improve next year and be able to put together a good season. Freshman guard Mati Griggs did a good job handling the McGivney press. Junior Natalie Oberlink is a 5’11 junior that can be a good post player for the Bombers.
- Coach Jeff Oller has a good thing going with his program. The school is still really in the early stages and yet they are 9-2. They have been without a standout player in Madison Webb and yet they are still having success. The team only has one other senior in addition to Pendall. After playing Wesclin Monday they play Alton Marquette, Staunton and Piasa before Christmas. That will be a tough 3 game stretch to see where they stand.
It was a very exciting game to watch. I always enjoy seeing McKee and Hoppes play. They both go so hard all of the time and have so much heart. A nice win for the Lady Griffins, especially at home.