Senior Jada Briggs Led All Scorers with 15
The Park School of Buffalo Pioneers are champions of Monsignor Martin’s B Division.
That was made possible by taking down Mount St. Mary Academy on Thursday evening 37-28 at Villa Maria College. Naturally, coach Tekia Gary was ecstatic following the victory.
“Even though we made some mistakes early on, as long as we were getting back on defense, communicating, finishing layups, advancing the ball and believing in one another, that's what was going to help us excel tonight,” Gary said. “We did everything to try and keep our foot on the gas at all times.”
Conversely, the Thunder – who were aiming to win the B Division title for a third year in a row – were disappointed in the outcome.
“I thought we started phenomenally,” coach Kevin Peterson said. “We played the team defense that we wanted to and we were switching and communicating, but it’s a 32-minute game. You can play for eight minutes or so, but you’ve got to survive for another 24 and you need to have that mental toughness to be able to stick with it and get through it. The first half they came back a little bit and it was basically a brand-new game in the second. They played a really good team game and I commend them for that.
“At the end we kind of lost our composure a little bit – maybe if the ball bounces a few different ways, it’s a different outcome. But that’s the nature of sports. For the most part, we played to the best of our ability and we left it all out there. You really can’t ask for much more.”
That start to the contest – which saw the Thunder take a six-point lead with about three minutes left in the second quarter (without key contributors Elizabeth Allen and Eliana Bova, who were both inactive due to illness) – couldn’t have been better for the team. But the Pioneers wouldn’t quit, and roared back to eventually take the lead.
“I feel like, as we started seeing that we had that type of lead late, we might have been thinking that the game was over,” Peterson lamented. “I told them, ‘Guys, we’ve got to stayed focused here, because all it takes is a couple of stops and a couple of three-pointers and it's a brand new ball game.’ We worked on those types of scenarios in practice and I would have loved to see us handle it a little bit better, but that's the way that it goes.
“Practice is completely different than when you get into that game-type scenario. It's like the quote that Mike Tyson had – ‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.’”
Gary credited her team’s win to their defensive play, which forced the Thunder into attempting to make quick shots and to their collective teamwork.
“Defense wins games,” Gary said. “As long as we are in the way and we are communicating and helping one another, we can always get a stop.”
Jada Briggs, who led the Pioneers in scoring with 15 points, and teammate Amarie Berrios agreed.
“This is a championship game, and I’ve got winning DNA in me, so I don't take these games lightly,” Briggs said. “When it's time to step up, it's time to step up and show out.”
“You could tell (Mount St. Mary’s) were really scared of the press, and when we’re pressing teams that's what we do best,” Berrios said. “It all works out when we all work together.”
Photo Gallery Credit Shawn Turri/WNYAthletics
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