Early test helpful for North Allegheny girls' basketball team
No team likes to lose, but North Allegheny coach Sherri McConnell said her Tigers 34-30 loss to Mt. Lebanon last Saturday in the finals of the Tigers' Tip-Off Tournament could pay dividends when here team begins play in the rugged Section 3-AAAA of the WPIAL. The loss came one day after the Tigers rolled to a 56-24 victory over Erie McDowell on Friday.
"You want to play against the best early on, and you get that with Mt. Lebanon," McConnell said as her team took a 1-1 record into Tuesday's non-section game at Norwin. North Allegheny opens Section 3-AAAA play with a home game at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday against Seneca Valley.
"You want to see where you are and learn from it and prepare yourself for the section," she said. "That's what we talked about."
McConnell was pleased with her team's fast start against the Blue Devils, which saw the Tigers holding a 10-3 at the end of the first quarter.
"I thought we defended very well," she said. "But offensively, we struggled. We jumped out to the lead, but missed several opportunities with some layups that could have stretched it out. Mt. Lebanon is a great team, and I knew that even when we jumped out (to a 10-3 lead), they were going to fight back. We're inexperienced, but I'm proud of how our kids stuck with it."
McConnell said that once Mt. Lebanon was able to close up some gaps in its interior defense, scoring opportunities decreased for the Tigers.
"Their strength has always been their defense," she said. "We talked a lot about taking care of the basketball and playing our tempo and under control. They make everything difficult. We had the lead and had some opportunities that rimmed out. We have to finish those (opportunities), and we will be finishing those in a couple of weeks."
McConnell had no complaints about the opportunity to play such a quality opponent in the season's first weekend.
"You schedule good non-conference teams to prepare you for that section, and our ultimate goal is the section championship. We hope to look back on this game, and although it hurt to lose, it can be a learning experience."
The Tigers have moved on following the graduation of Alexis Aiken, who scored more than 1,000 points in her North Allegheny career.
"You can't replace a kid like Alexis Aiken," the coach said. "She did so much for us last year. She was our leading scorer and rebounder. No one person is going to replace her. We only have 12 points a game returning from last year's team. Taylor Brennan is just coming back from a hand injury, and she averaged 9.5 points for us last year. We only have three kids on our team that wore a varsity uniform last year."
One of those newer players is Devvin LaBarge, a 5-5 sophomore guard who scored a game-high 10 points against Mt. Lebanon.
"She is a competitor, and she works hard on her game in the off-season," McConnell said. "She's a shooter, and she looks to score. She's always trying to get better. She's one of those kids who is going to take us to the next level and get us to the section championship. It doesn't surprise me she's gotten off to the start that she has."
McConnell believes the section is there for the taking.
"It's going to be a battle," she predicted. "Shaler has a very good team. They were young last year and will be very strong. People don't want to talk about Butler, but Butler is going to be there. Seneca Valley is also going to be tough, and you can't rule out Oakland Catholic. The section will be tough, but I don't think there's any dominant team this year."
"You want to play against the best early on, and you get that with Mt. Lebanon," McConnell said as her team took a 1-1 record into Tuesday's non-section game at Norwin. North Allegheny opens Section 3-AAAA play with a home game at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday against Seneca Valley.
"You want to see where you are and learn from it and prepare yourself for the section," she said. "That's what we talked about."
McConnell was pleased with her team's fast start against the Blue Devils, which saw the Tigers holding a 10-3 at the end of the first quarter.
"I thought we defended very well," she said. "But offensively, we struggled. We jumped out to the lead, but missed several opportunities with some layups that could have stretched it out. Mt. Lebanon is a great team, and I knew that even when we jumped out (to a 10-3 lead), they were going to fight back. We're inexperienced, but I'm proud of how our kids stuck with it."
McConnell said that once Mt. Lebanon was able to close up some gaps in its interior defense, scoring opportunities decreased for the Tigers.
"Their strength has always been their defense," she said. "We talked a lot about taking care of the basketball and playing our tempo and under control. They make everything difficult. We had the lead and had some opportunities that rimmed out. We have to finish those (opportunities), and we will be finishing those in a couple of weeks."
McConnell had no complaints about the opportunity to play such a quality opponent in the season's first weekend.
"You schedule good non-conference teams to prepare you for that section, and our ultimate goal is the section championship. We hope to look back on this game, and although it hurt to lose, it can be a learning experience."
The Tigers have moved on following the graduation of Alexis Aiken, who scored more than 1,000 points in her North Allegheny career.
"You can't replace a kid like Alexis Aiken," the coach said. "She did so much for us last year. She was our leading scorer and rebounder. No one person is going to replace her. We only have 12 points a game returning from last year's team. Taylor Brennan is just coming back from a hand injury, and she averaged 9.5 points for us last year. We only have three kids on our team that wore a varsity uniform last year."
One of those newer players is Devvin LaBarge, a 5-5 sophomore guard who scored a game-high 10 points against Mt. Lebanon.
"She is a competitor, and she works hard on her game in the off-season," McConnell said. "She's a shooter, and she looks to score. She's always trying to get better. She's one of those kids who is going to take us to the next level and get us to the section championship. It doesn't surprise me she's gotten off to the start that she has."
McConnell believes the section is there for the taking.
"It's going to be a battle," she predicted. "Shaler has a very good team. They were young last year and will be very strong. People don't want to talk about Butler, but Butler is going to be there. Seneca Valley is also going to be tough, and you can't rule out Oakland Catholic. The section will be tough, but I don't think there's any dominant team this year."
basketball