Mesa Legend - Sports - Young talent off to a fast start on the court

Young talent off to a fast start on the court
Nick Kosmider
Mesa Legend
While for many Christmas break means a time to relax and get away from school, for the Mesa women’s basketball team, this winter break has been full of hard work. Since the December 5th break, the team has played 10 games, including a stretch of four games in four days in a tournament played at South Mountain College.

First year head coach Kori Stephenson was highly impressed with the way her team pulled together during that stretch.

“That was a tough stretch to play four games in four days,” says Stephenson, “but we had players in every position stepping up which was a pleasant surprise.”

As of December 9th the Lady Thunderbirds carried a 5-1 conference record, putting them in second place behind first place Yavapai and Central Arizona, both of whom were carrying 6-0 league marks. MCC’s lone loss came against Yavapai on December 12th, as the Lady T-birds fell 75-60.

Overall, the team has looked solid in region play. They started off with a thrilling victory over Scottsdale Community College, defeating the Lady Artichokes 74-73, in overtime. The Thunderbirds followed their victory three days later edging out Eastern Arizona in 80-75 in another thrilling overtime finish.

On December 6th, Mesa hosted Pima Community College and won in another close finish, 69-64. Three days later the team topped Chandler-Gilbert Community College 83-76 in their highest scoring output of the season. Following the loss to Yavapai, the Thunderbirds responded with a solid 69-49 win over the Lady Gauchos of Glendale Community College, putting their record region record to 5-1.

While Stephenson is pleased with the way her young team is playing she also notes there is room for improvement.

“The biggest thing we need to work on is playing for a full 40 minutes,” Stephenson says, “We’ve played a lot of games hard for 21 minutes or so and then faded out. We need to work on putting a full game together.”

The success of the team has been made more impressive due to the lack of experience on the team. Of the 14 girls on the roster, eight are freshman, but many of the sophomores are seeing significant playing time for the first time.

The scoring attack for the Lady Thunderbirds has been well balanced. The team’s leading scorer this season is Danielle Reiher. The 5’10” freshman from Sunrise Mountain in Peoria is averaging 14.4 points per game, good enough for eleventh in the ACCAC. Sophomore Alissa Ingallina and Freshman Charlieann Chacon have also been keys offensively, as each are averaging 13.1 points per game on the year.

Chacon, who played her high school basketball at Deer Valley in Glendale, is also the team’s leader in steals, averaging 3.7 thefts per game.

Stephenson believes her team can make a good run into the playoffs this season.

“If we just continue to stay focused and continue to improve every practice and every game, there is no reason we can’t get home court advantage for the playoffs."