4th grade post mortem

The 4th grade girls saw their season come to an end Saturday at the hands of the number one team in the division.

That team lost only once all year, and it was the 4th grade girls that beat them a few weeks ago.

Final score for that game, also 4-0, except in favor of St. Mary's.

Now what went wrong on Saturday. Let's revisit the three keys to the game.

• The game cannot be a shootout

And it wasn't, two baskets the entire game. They did a good job on defense to make it hard for the other team to get off clean shots.

• Be mentally there

Hard to say if they were completely on board, but their focus and effort wasn't bad.

• Own the paint

That they did not do, and it was hard with the other team's tallest girl controlling everything inside. Sofia needed to score a few buckets close to the basket, but she hardly was able to get off any shots.

All in all, they played a pretty good game but could not hit the big shots.

Some things the girls need to get better at is to limit their turnovers. Even the team's best ball handlers, relatively speaking, always dribble into traffic and then a jump ball is called.

Ball movement as a whole isn't very good. The other team was able to pass the ball around, evident by the final minute plus when the 4th grade could not get the ball back when they needed it the most.

A lot of this has to do with young age, as well as having two 3rd graders on the team. Physically, some of the girls just aren't strong enough yet to make power moves or even hit the rim consistently on shots.

The basketball experience and IQ is not there yet, and that's okay, because it takes a lot of time to develop.

The good news is, that they are already ahead in terms of development, compared to the rest of the teams in the school right now and those who have graduated in the last several years -- simply because they've had some success in the early stages of their careers.

Cynthia, Victoria and Fiona, who have all played since 3rd and 4th grade, never won a single game when they were 3rd or 4th graders. In fact, Cynthia never won a game until she was in 7th grade.

So for these girls to go (5-3) and come a few points away from a championship game is a fantastic start to their life on the hardwood, as unfulfilled as Saturday's game felt.