Lady Mavs start 1-1

The Lady Mavericks opened their 2018-19 campaign with a split as they were able to pick up a 39-34 win over Shields Valley, followed by a 59-29 loss to Roy-Winifred at the Fergus Holiday Showcase in Lewistown last weekend.

In the team’s win over Shields Valley on Friday, December 7, the team was led by Kia Wasson, who had 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Kaitlyn McColly had 11 points, nine rebounds, six steals, and six pass deflections. Kelsee Cummings had five points. Jaycee Erickson had five points, six rebounds, and two assists.

“We defended pretty well and made some good defensive adjustments in the game to take away what they were looking for in order to score,” Lady Mavs Coach Amber Erickson said. “We stayed aggressive and went at their pressure, resulting in a lot of free throws at the end of the game.”

Coach Erickson saw her team face a lot of full-court pressure in the win, but she was pleased.

“It was good for us to have to handle that kind of pressure because we have not been pressed yet this year,” Coach Erickson said.

Despite picking up the win, Coach Erickson knows that her team was capable of running away with the win.

“If we had capitalized better and knocked more of our free throws down, we could have pulled away by even more than the five points,” Coach Erickson said. “It was a good first win of the season for us.”

In the team’s loss to Roy-Winifred on Saturday, December 8, Wasson led the team with 12 points, seven pass deflections, and one steal. McColly had a 10 point, 10 rebound double-double, four assists, and three steals.

Coach Erickson explained what the team saw when going against Roy-Winifred.

“Roy-Winifred is a veteran team with several solid players,” Coach Erickson said. “They are very tall and physical, and we just really had a hard time getting things going for us offensively.”

Despite the odds being against her team, Coach Erickson was proud of how the Lady Mavericks played that day.

“The girls played very hard that game despite the score and for that, I was proud of them.”

Coach Erickson said. “Our half-court defense was pretty good, and we actually rebounded pretty well. We just need to take much better care of the ball and become smarter basketball players if we are going to compete against some of these better teams we have played so far this season.”

The Mavericks will travel to Glasgow on Friday, December 14, to take on the Lady Scotties. They are then scheduled to play Brockton in Saco on Saturday, December 15.

Until the two-game weekend begins, Coach Erickson will work on some of the issues the team had on both sides of the ball.

“We are going to really work on better spacing and decision making on the offensive end this week in practice,” Coach Erickson said.  “We have to get more people involved in the points column so that we can become more balanced.  We want to continue to limit second shot opportunities by getting a good box-out every defensive possession while working hard to crash the boards on offense, so we can get some second looks. Our focus is to get better every weekend.”