8th grade romps again

The 8th grade girls put on another dominating performance and clinched a playoff spot with a 32-2 drubbing of the other team.

Like many other games they have played this season, the result was hardly in doubt, leading 16-0 at halftime, and not giving up a basket until the 3rd quarter.

Part of the reason is their competition is just not as talented as the 8th grade girls are. For years we have talked about St. Mary's teams being outmatched even before the game started. But now for the first time, it's the other way around.

In their five wins this season, their smallest margin of victory has been 19 points, and that was their first game of the year when they only played with five players.

Last season, this team went (2-6) in the same division. Three players remain from that team, Maria, Pamela and Jocelyn. Now with the added presence of Amanda, Sabrina and Lili, anything less than a championship would be a disappointment.

Even though they have been blowing out teams, three of their four previous wins were all close at halftime and it took a great second half really pull away. Not the case Saturday.

Jocelyn had a career high 12 points, and the defense for the 8th grade girls has been so good that other teams can barely get off any quality shots.

Their man to man creates at times an ugly and sloppy game to watch, but it does prevent the other team from scoring.

This is their third game of the year where they have held the other team to single digits, a feat that is hard to accomplish at the 8th grade level.

The girls played with only five girls in the first half, but it didn't affect their solid play. They were hitting their shots, grabbing rebounds and beating the other team in every facet of the game.

One thing they will have to guard against is overconfidence because if they don't continue to do the things they have been doing to win, a repeat of last Sunday's game could happen.

But if their play the rest of the season is like how they performed Saturday, there will be a lot of big smiles come the month of May.

Amanda had 8 points for the third straight game. Maria scored 6 points, while Pamela and Sabrina both added 2 points.

They are now (5-0) on the year.