By HUNTER O. LYLE
SMETHPORT, PA — Game-time experience is important for every young team. However, that encompasses not only the wins and narrow losses. Sometimes, losing badly is a vital experience as well, something the Smethport girl’s basketball team is learning from after losing to Cameron County 48-18.
Entering the season, the Lady Hubbers knew it was going to be a season where the journey was more important than the destination. Although they returned the vast majority of their roster from a season ago, the youthful squad they assembled needed fine tuning and experience. Still, through the first four games of the season, Smethport opened with a 2-2 record, including a North Tier League win over Coudersport in hostile territory.
“I’ve got some young girls that are getting a lot of time. There’s a couple freshmen that are getting a lot of time,” said Smethport head coach Chad Goodman. “We’ve just got to mature.”
One of the highly emphasized areas of improvement for the Lady Hubbers coming into the season was their ball handling, a weak point that showed early against Cam Co. In the early goings, Smethport struggled to move the ball efficiently, instead suffering several turnovers that turned into points in transition on the other side of the court. With their offense hamstrung, it took nearly three full minutes for the Lady Hubbers to notch their first points of the game – a drive to the basket by Payton Neff.
Once they saw the ball go in, however, Smethport began to turn the tide. Benefiting from several Cam Co turnovers, forced and unforced, the Lady Hubbers pulled back into the game with 3-pointers from Jenna Goodman and Cassidy Szuba, cutting the lead to just one with two minutes remaining and heading into the second quarter down by just five.
Although they limited their giveaways, Smethport’s offense still struggled in the next period of play. While the Lady Raiders drastically upped their pace, using quick outlet passes to hustle up the court and outrun the defense, the Lady Hubbers struggled to break from their stagnant half-court attack. Lacking both ball movement and off-ball player movement, Smethport once again went scoreless for large swaths of time. Their only four points before the half came from two offensive rebounds from Mariah Tanner, one she scored herself and the other resulting in a 2-for-2 trip to the charity stripe from Neff.
Meanwhile, it seemed as if everything was going well for Cam Co. Settling into a smooth and fluid fast-paced offense, they found uncontested looks under the rim while also connecting on the majority of their jumpshots. Ending the half on an 8-0 run, the Lady Raiders had amassed a 29-12 lead after the first 16 minutes.
“At halftime I was just stressing that we had to match (Cameron County’s) intensity. We had a little spurt there in the first quarter where we made a little bit of a run back at them,” said Goodman. “We did some good things in our full-court-press, creating some turnovers which allowed us to climb back in, but once the press breaks down we have to make sure that we stay disciplined.”
Seeing the game slip from their grasp, the Lady Hubbers fell back on bad habits coming into the second half of play. Turnovers reappeared in bunches, including two through their first three possessions, while their defense struggled to match their opponents physicality.
After producing points via jumpers in the second, the Lady Raiders switched to consistently looking to pound the ball into the paint. Tossing it down to quick-set post players or scrapping for offensive rebounds, Cam Co. pushed their lead to 20-plus in the first handful of minutes.
“We need to match the other team’s physicality. We just got out-muscled,” said Goodman. “Even when we did do good things like secure a rebound, it seemed like we were just getting the ball ripped from us. We just have to start matching teams’ physicality.”
Again missing a spark on offense, Smethport scored just three points in the period as they looked up at a 37-15 deficit heading into the fourth, a quarter that seemed to fall in line with the previous three.
Searching for any semblance of production, the Lady Hubbers went to Neff. Driving, shooting and running the floor, Neff desperately looked for ways to add to the scoreboard. However, the shots just didn’t fall. She eventually broke the drought after four and a half scoreless minutes, driving to the hoop for a contested layup, but by that time the game was all but decided. Rotating in their reserves to finish out the game, the Lady Hubbers accepted their third defeat of the season.
Neff led Smethport with six points while Szuba ended with five.
“We’ve just got to learn to battle through adversity. We just don’t tend to do that. We tend to shut down,” said Goodman. “As a team going forward, we just have to learn to just battle through it and come together as one. When times get tough we just have to pull together.”
AT SMETHPORT
Cameron County (48)
Hilfiger 7 3-5 18, Bresslin 6 0-0 13, Clark 3 0-0 6, Earle 1 3-4 5, Kulek 1 0-0 2, McKimm 1 0-0 2, Darr 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 6-9 48
Smethport (18)
Neff 2 2-2 6, Szuba 1 2-4 5, Goodman 1 0-0 3, Ours 1 0-0 2, Tanner 1 0-0 2, Vandermare 0 0-2 0. Totals: 6 2-6 18
Cameron County 13 29 37 48
Smethport 8 12 15 18
Three-point goals: CC (2) Hilfiger, Bresslin, SM (2) Goodman, Szuba; Total fouls: CC , SM 9; Fouled out: None.
JV: Cameron County 24, Smethport 4
