Monday Morning Quarterback - The First Win

Monday Morning Quarterback

• One who criticizes or passes judgment from a position of hindsight

__________________________________________________________________________________

MMQ welcomes you back after a two, or was it three week hiatus. The boys basketball season has come to a close and we open the chapter for the girls basketball season as well as the baseball season.

So let the criticizing begin.

So let's start with the 8th grade girls.

It is not going to be an easy walk through the park like it was the last year for the 8th grade girls. They jumped two divisions and will need to play their "A" game every single game. Gone are the days of 20 point blowout wins against the teams like Waldorf.

There are no easy games, as evident by their tournament the past week.

Marissa may be the best free throw shooter the school has seen in years. Without her free throws, the girls lose all three games.

And strange enough in the one game they did lose, she shot a masterful 15-for-16 at the free throw line.

They key to the girls' success this year is how well they can take care of the ball. Turnovers were prevalent in all of their games, and in two of them, they got away with turning the ball over.

There aren't that many ball handlers on this team, so the ones that do touch the ball more need to get better. And those who aren't good at it, need to get better as well.

The division is going to be quick and they will swarm the ball. Ball security is more important than anything for this team.

Now onto the 3rd/4th graders who won for the first time yesterday.

There is nothing like your first win in anything. And it's even more special when you have lost a bunch of games like this team has in the past. Win number one is something special, something you cherish, and something you remember for the rest of your life...Kind of like a piano recital...

After watching yesterday's game, it made me fat back, or flashback to the first wins for teams at St. Mary's in the last 3-4 years.

Here are the ones that are most memorable.

Year One (2007-2008)
Class of 2010 Girls, 6th Grade Basketball @ CYO Serramonte vs St. Anne's
It was a Saturday afternoon and Tianna didn't show up until the fourth quarter, and the girls hung on to win their first game ever played.

Year Two (2008-2009)
Class of 2009, 8th Grade Girls Volleyball @ Mission Dolores vs Waldorf
It was a Saturday night/late afternoon. This girls team had won two sets this year heading into their final game. It was their first year playing volleyball and the girls had won the first set. After losing the second set, I thought to myself that it was pretty cool to win three sets in your first year. Then Olivia stepped up and served 9 straight balls over for the win.

Class of 2009/10, Baseball Team @ Rossi vs Corpus Christi
St. Mary's baseball was usually on the wrong end of the 8 run rule, where mercy is applied. When a team scores 8 runs, the inning is over. On this afternoon, it was St. Mary's doing the scoring. Hit after hit after hit. And then Derek struck out the final batter. 10-6...the team's first baseball win.

Year Three (2009-2010)
Class of 2010, 8th Grade Girls Volleyball @St. Emydius vs Bayview YMCA
I wasn't at this game. I got a text in the 49ers press box and had to do a double take when I saw that the 8th grade girls had finally won a volleyball game. That win gave the girls momentum all the way to their championship appearance.

Current 5th/6th Grade Girls, 4th/5th Grade Girls Volleyball @ Good Shepherd vs Good Shepherd
Again, I wasn't at this game.This time, I got a text while standing in the Raiders Press Conference Room. I couldn't believe it. The girls actually won, and not only did they win, they did it in only two sets.

Class of 2010/2011, 7th/8th Grade Soccer @ Silver Terrace vs OLPH

The stars aligned for this game. Everything had to go right. Derek made a penalty kick and OLPH had a penalty kick go wide of the net. Justin had a chance to give the team a lead but his shot hit the goal post. But Derek's corner kick was dribbled in by Tommy and the 2-1 score held.

Current 7th Grade Boys, 6th Grade Basketball @ CYO Serramonte vs St. Cecilia
It was a Friday night and the first time that the current 7th grade boys had a team. This was before the DeMarillac invasion. It was a tight game throughout and then the boys busted the game wide open with an incredible fourth quarter. That is where The Shem made his first ever shot.

Girls Schedule Released

3rd/4th Grade Schedule

5th Grade Schedule

6th/7th Grade Schedule

8th Grade Schedule

Click Each Schedule to Enlarge.

Here are the first games for each team:


Friday Night
6th/7th Grade, 6 p.m. @ St. Stephen's
8th Grade, 6 p.m. @ SVDP
5th Grade, 7 p.m. @ SVDP

Saturday
3rd/4th Grade, 10 a.m. @ Mission Dolores

3rd/4th Grade Girls win first game in team history

For the first time, the 3rd and 4th grade girls were winners with their 22-6 victory in this afternoon's final round of the CYO tournament.

They got off to a great start when Miracle scored on the first possession of the game. That momentum carried the entire way as the girls had their highest output by far in their little over one year team history.

In fact, they scored more points today, than they did combined their last 10 games.


Their defense shouldn't be overlooked as they swarmed the ball at will, creating turnovers, and generating fast break opportunities. That set up a lot of open shots, something that had been troublesome for quite a while.

Miracle had a career high 12 points, with her baskets coming in forms of lay-ups and jump shots.

After scoring the first two points of her career in the first half, Adrianna erupted with another 6 points in the second half.

Michaela became the first 3rd grader to score with her coast to coast drive in the fourth quarter.

Precious shot wins it for 8th graders

**Highlights Updated**

Precious stole an inbounds pass with 20 seconds left and buried a short jumper to give the 8th grade girls a 26-24 win in the CYO preseason consolation championship.

Marissa was held to only 13 points on the day, but every player on the team scored, contributing to the team's best collective effort of their three games so far.

Precious, Gavy, Catharine and Beverlyn all scored 3 points, while Amanda's lone point came from the free throw line.

Playing without Serina, Precious was pushed into duty as a main ball handler in only her third ever CYO game. She did a solid job protecting the ball, as the team had the least turnovers of their three games in the tournament this afternoon.

What plagued them from running away with this game and almost losing it was their inability to look up on the fast break. Almost every girl had her head down while she dribbled down court.

Defensively, they are having trouble grabbing rebounds, as today they swiped and slapped at the ball more than usual.

Fouls were a problem for the first time this season as Amanda collected 4 personal fouls, and Beverlyn fouled out right before the third quarter ended.

Down 24-22 with less than 30 seconds left, Marissa drove to the hoop and got fouled.

She was sent to the line and buried both her free throws to tie the game at 24-24.

Right off the inbounds, Precious stepped in front of an inbound pass, and the ball landed right in her lap. She immediately took the shot and drained the first field goal of her CYO career.

Due to budget cuts, there was no trophy.

5th Grade Championship RAW Video

8th Grade Girls win ugly

**Highlights Updated**

The 8th grade girls won a 29-23 slugfest in Round 2 of the CYO preseason tournament.

In a game that took an hour and 15 minute to complete, the girls went to the free throw line practically every minute of the game.

They were in the bonus a little over two minutes into the third quarter, which is when they made their comeback.

Down 9-6 at halftime, the girls put together a strong second half, and willed their way to a win one night after an 11 point loss.

Marissa had another strong game and had 19 points, while Beverlyn's fourth quarter, where she scored 7 points put the girls in the win column for the first time this year.

The game was won at the free-throw line where they shot close to 70%, making 21 out of 31 free throws.

Marissa had a shaky start from the line where she was so good last night, and hit 9 of 15 free throws.

In the fourth, the team shot 10 of 12, which really put them over the hump.

Gavy scored 3 points, her first ever points in CYO play.

The girls took care of the ball better overall, but are still far from being good when they have possession.

Rebounding is also an issue as they were one step slower to the ball the entire night.

Despite their ruggedness, they were able to grind out an ugly victory. This game was physical and by no means pretty at all.

The girls play in the Consolation Championship Saturday afternoon.

Happy Birthday