Girls hoops: Waves 55, Wolverines 33

Without a doubt, Riverhead’s girls basketball team is in the rebuilding stage; the majority of their players are young and inexperienced so a run deep into the playoffs isn’t exactly in their plans this year. More than anything, this season is about growth.

On Wednesday, the Waves faced North Babylon – a team that Coach Dave Spinella said is among the best if not the best on Long Island. It was a chance to get an understanding of where this team stands as of right now. The game wasn’t expected to be a close one and it wasn’t but that’s not the point.

North Babylon today is where Spinella wants his team in the future. The Bulldogs blew the Waves out 78-40. The game was a learning experience; the players saw how not only to break the press but how it’s used effectively. Pressing on defense, if done correctly, leads to lots of fast-breaks and turnovers. The Bulldogs were constantly pressing to try to get to the youth of the Waves and it worked.

“You take a ton away from a big loss like that,” Spinella said. “A lot of your character comes out of a game like that. Ok they’re pressing us and they’re stealing the ball and it’s pass, pass, pass, layup and the ball’s not touching the floor and before you know it, it’s like 31-7. And the crowd is going crazy. So what do you take away from that? Do you go into your shell or do you keep fighting? So we kept fighting.”

Later in the game, as the score grew, the Bulldogs began to lay off but Spinella asked North Babylon’s coach to put the press back on. Some may be wondering, put it back on? Why?

“I have to credit Mr. Ligon (8th grader Kim Ligon’s father) who said this is how we grow,” Spinella said. “She took the press off with like four minutes left in the quarter and I said you know what, no pity, we’re going to learn. I’d rather shut the scoreboard off and get pressed for 32 minutes then change what you do because we need to learn how to deal with this.”

With the youth, Spinella is trying to teach the Waves how to break the press because it’s essential to any successful team as in year’s past at Riverhead.

“For the past five years we’ve kind of been unpressable with our strong guard play,” Spinella said. “And now we have very young guards (both 8th graders) who are going to get pressured because teams will want to test the water to see what they can get out of them so we have to learn how to handle the ball under pressure, getting it over half court and getting into our offense. And there is no better way to test that than going against North Babylon.”

Frustration is going to be a common theme with these young girls but it’s all part of the growing process. At one point in the game, senior Gabby Green came over to Ligon and put her arm around her and said “just relax, be patient, don’t panic.” The senior leadership, Spinella said, will really help mold these younger kids.

“It’s a humbling thing,” Spinella said. “Here’s a kid that potentially playing in your spot and yet there’s a kid like Gabby doing her best to help them get better. And that’s what we’re all about. That’s a testament to these girls and what they’re trying to accomplish.”

The Blue Waves were back in action Thursday against Newfield and put on a show, winning 55-33. The Waves showed what they were able to do with their renewed sense of play. They didn’t dwell on the loss; instead they took what they learned the game before and put it on display. Amanda Baron, who started the season not getting much playing time, is starting to showcase exactly what Spinella had hoped. She and Sam Dunn lead the team in points scored with 13.

“She was a little timid this season,” Spinella said. “I spoke to her 6th period today and said, listen you need to be able to do these things because you can. You just need the confidence to do it. She scored nine points in a row. She had a hook shot from the baseline, two jumpers and a three. It was sick. The kids were jumping on the bench man, it was great.”

Four starters have been a constant in Riverhead’s starting lineup in Dezarae Brown, Dunn, Kate McCarney and Ligon but the fifth spot has been in rotation.

“It depends on who we’re playing and what their strengths are,” Spinella said. “We’ll put in a kid in that fifth spot to offset that strength. They dropped to a zone and (Baron) can shoot so we put her in.

“We started the game with Kyra Miller because we wanted to push the floor and she scored the first four points of the game. It’s a matter of what’s happening. We have a lot of kids that we can put in that fifth spot to produce.”

Now, the Waves have a nice two week layoff for the christmas break to spend much needed time together, focusing their energy on getting better.

“There are things that I can tolerate,” Spinella said. “But there’s also things I can’t tolerate like not playing like a team, not hustling or not going as hard as your can; like make me take you out because you’re so tired from playing hard. Diving on loose balls, going after rebounds – all that stuff has nothing to do with age. A four-year-old knows to go after a loose ball. They’ll go jump on a ball that’s rolling down a court. So those mistakes I can’t tolerate but things like recognizing the game and where to go and when to go there and the right path to make – those things are part of the growing process and watching them figure it out, learning from their mistake and fixing it, is awesome. It’s a great feeling not only as a coach but as a teacher.”