Millionaires soaring above season’s opening cliff at 4-1

LENOX – After the Millionaires dropped the finale of the Gene Wein tournament to cross-town rival Lee, the Lenox girls’ hoop team rebounded with two gratuitous victories over weaker opponents to move to 4-1 overall before the holiday break.

“I still feel good about our fitness, [but] I’m still looking for a rotation I would like,” said Lenox Head Coach Nicole Patella.

Fitness was certainly an issue against the aggressive Lee team in the Millionaires’ 43-37 loss, as turnovers and Lenox’s inability to keep Lee off the boards were the main culprits in Lenox’s only defeat to date.

“We still need to discipline ourselves to run our offense,” Patella said after her team easily beat Mt. Everett 56-36 and St. Mary’s of Westfield 67-7. (Not a misprint.)

Against St. Mary’s, it appeared as if Patella was trying to get her girls enough minutes and court-time as the Millionaires are not scheduled to play again until Jan. 3 against a very good St. Joe’s team.

“We need to work on our sets over the break,” Patella said. “We don’t play until Jan. 3 – so we have 12 days – it’s a really long break.”

Against St. Mary’s, Hayden Zinchuk lead the way with 10 points and 22 rebounds, while Liz Mitts added 16 points, mainly from the outside on 15-18-foot jumpers.

Zinchuk could easily have had more points, but due to the lack of competitiveness from St. Mary’s, she wisely chose to pass the ball to teammates on the outside as the Millionaires worked on their jump-shots.

“We shoot a lot in practice, and they are accountable for how many they make in practice,” Patella said after the St. Mary’s win. “We shot the ball really well today, even though I wanted them to work on their sets.”

Bench players Makayla White (seven points) and Jaclynn Hathaway (four points) played well, as they saw solid minutes for the first time this season against St. Mary’s.

“Jaclynn and Makayla had a good night – and it was nice to see those girls get some time in. Something they didn’t get to in many games – they shot the ball really well and I am looking for their confidence (to go up) in these games,” Patella said.

Jaclyn Gigliotti also played well against St. Mary’s, as she scored all eight of her points in the first half and moved the ball around the perimeter.

For Lenox, Hollie Downer has been filling in for injured star point guard Jen Delasco, who may need some more time before returning for a hopeful post-season run.

Downer plays physical defense and helps orchestrate the offense, as well as Kathy Prescott, who plays the forward-point position.

“Hollie, she is handling it well,” Patella said. “At any time I can have three to four girls bring the ball up and that’s what I look for – I don’t want the other team keying in on one player – so I also have [Gigliotti and Prescott].”

The Millionaires return to action on Jan. 3 against St. Joe’s at the Boys and Girls Club in Pittsfield.

Posted by Tim Davis on December 27, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry