Maddy Rossitto, white uniform, hustles over to play help defense in a recent NCAL small schools game against Grass Valley Charter. Mt. St, Mary's dropped a tough game but will play GVC again Thursday at St. Mary's.
Oct. 6, 2011
Lady Eagles Having Good Hoop Campaign
The Mount Saint Mary’s Lady Eagles have jumped off to an exciting 5-2 start to begin this years NCAL Small School's Girls Basketball season. Thanks to a quick and tenacious team defense and undersized fearless offense most notably from starting point guard Meg Anderson (5.2 pts/game)(4.7 steals/g) and strong forward Kaylene Rodriguez-the team's only two 8th graders.
With a 14 player roster, over half are sixth graders! MSM is comprised this season of two eighth graders, four 7th graders, and eight 6th graders.
According to coach Ryan Ellis, the factor that makes this group of girls special is their “never say die” attitude.
So far, MSM has had to come from behind to win three of its five games against Chicago Park and Clear Creek. The only two loses came to Grass Valley Charter and Yuba River Charter, both of which were only three point losses and had exciting finishes.
Point guard/shooting guard, 7th grader Maddy Rossitto has been one of the Eagles most consistent performers on the offensive end (3.6pts/game) and second in steals with over 5 per game.
One of the steadiest players so far has been 7th grader Emily O’Neill. Emily has been one of the top rebounders and steals leaders on the team. The Eagles have welcomed a handful of new players to the basketball roster this year, one of which is their leading rebounder (5.7 p/g), shot blocker (2.6 p/g) , and points leader (6.0 p/g), 6th grader Grace Gulsvig.
The key to the Lady Eagles success this year has been the support from the bench players. 6th grader Kylee Dresbach-Hill has been a spark plug for the offense handing the ball at the point guard position, and 7th graders Clara Boling and Jessica Seivert have done a nice job cleaning up the boards inside. It has been an exciting start to the season as the league has been very balanced this year; which should make for an exciting finish.
GV Charter 26 MSM 23 - After MSM found themselves leading by one after the first quarter, GV Charter exploded with 12 second quarter points to take the lead into halftime 14-10. MSM struggled to find their shot most of the game and even late into the fourth quarter as they found themselves down 20-11 with just over 3 minutes left in the game.
After a steal and a layup by Meg Anderson, the Eagles put on a full court press that led to consecutive baskets from Maddy Rossitto and Grace Gulsvig to narrow the margin. With just over one minute to go and a nice pass from Maddy Rossitto to Kaylene Rodriguez for the basket gave MSM a one point lead with just seconds to play. The lead went back and forth two more times and at the buzzer a 20 foot shot was heaved by the Rossitto that looked right on the money but came just a few inches short. GV Charter would escape with a three point victory.
Grace Gulsvig scored 10 points and brought down 7 rebounds, two blocks and two steals to lead the Eagles. 7th graders Jessica Seivert and Emily O’Neill also played tough defense and scored a bucket a piece. These two teams will meet Thursday at MSM.