Despite the temptations of the upcoming holiday season, Mt. Hood Community College women’s head basketball coach Brianna Finch believes the Saints will use this winter break to work on focusing during games.
“Their goal over winter break is to just keep focused. It’s that time of the year—the time when they finish school and finals and they have more time on their own – it’s just difficult,” said Finch.
Over the break, the Saints will play three games and a tournament, including their first home game of the season on Monday, Dec. 20, 4 p.m. in the gym.
“I’m not really sure what to expect for our first home game,” said the first-year MHCC coach. “I hope that we have at least a small crowd, but I know that I can’t honestly expect a big crowd because of the break and people not being here at school.”
The other winter break games include the Lane Crossover Tournament in Eugene Friday, Dec. 17-19, and games against Treasure Valley, Walla Walla Community College and Shoreline on Friday, Dec. 31, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 1, 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the MHCC gym.
On Wednesday, the Saints played the Clark College Penguins and were defeated 60-55. Some of the key players were sophomore forward and team co-captain Kristen Tillstrom with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six steals, sophomore forward Christa Attleberger with 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, and freshman guard Ashley Kerslake with 10 points.
Finch said that Attleberger, Tillstrom, and freshman guard Dede Sonnis have been consistent players all season. Attleberger was even an All-Tournament player last weekend at a tournament in Seattle.
“Christa and Kristen have probably been our most consistent players so far. Kristen has been averaging about 12 points every game and she is one of the players that can actually stay focused for a 40-minute-game,” said Finch.
The Saints want to use the break to develop their focus for an entire game, rather than just the first half.
“We want to keep building towards 40 minutes of good basketball playing because sometimes we’ll play 15 minutes of intense basketball and then we’ll play 5 minutes of bad ball, and we really need to work on that,” said Finch.
Overall, Finch believes the season is going well, despite the Saints 1-6 record, because of the way they have played through the hard times. “The girls have had to go through a lot of changes with players joining and leaving the team and with the fact that the roster is down to seven players now,” said Finch.
“The girls are becoming more comfortable with each other, game situations and offense. They are definitely improving,” she added.