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Motivated Lady McLegends roll to win
Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM
Motivation in all-star games is usually singular, with individual players trying to score a bushel of points, or, at the least, not look bad.
Not on Saturday. Not with the Lady McLegends. They took note of the comments by High School Girls All-Stars coach Bobby Matz, who inferred a few days before the game that the veterans might not be ready for his squad.
Oops.
"Locker room material," McLegend Rachel Gromala said, clutching the Alan Macey MVP trophy. "And after last year, when we had it handed to us, we were coming back with a little revenge this year."
Add in the Lady McLegends' height and the combination was toxic for the kids.
The 105-68 final score at McLegends X in Thornton's iconic gym on Saturday only begins to explain how devoted the veterans were to the cause.
There was the 68 percent shooting from the field in the first half. There was the 29-5 run across a span of 9 minutes, 7 seconds. There was the defensive tenacity rarely seen in an all-star contest.
Finally, there was the satisfaction of proving their point.
"The coach over there made a comment that we might not have played a game or scrimmaged or even run," Roslyn Turner said, underlining Matz's comments.
"He said they were going to run us. I had to mention that, that this man said we hadn't practiced. So let's show 'em."
It was quite a show. With three practices in the days before the game, seven of the Lady McLegends scored 10 or more points, with Northwestern and Hillcrest grad Nadia Bibbs leading the way with 15.
But this was a team effort, with the McLegends coming in waves. The big first-half run, for instance, was keyed by a quintet of 3-pointers from four different players, with Jacqie Storm hitting a pair.
The McLegends, with Gromala, Joy Bacino and Erin Cattell alternating, didn't ignore the inside game at either end of the court.
They were unstoppable on offense and invincible on defense. Gromala scored 14 points and Storm had 13, with Kim Harris-Fudge, Sonya Harris and Turner adding 11 each. Kathlyn McClain contributed 10 points.
"We wanted to run with them," Harris-Fudge said. "Once we got our feet under us, we were able to get some shots. That's what put us ahead."
This was more run over than run with. The tone was set three seconds in, when Bibbs fed Turner for an easy layup. It was 4-0 after Sonya Harris' rebound score at 36 seconds, and while they tied the game twice, the All-Stars could never pull ahead.
The Lady McLegends pulled away starting with a free throw by Zaneta Lane with 8:19 left in the first half. That made it 22-18. Just over nine minutes later, it was 50-23.
"I didn't think we were going to start off that good, but since we did, it made it easier for us to focus on defense," Turner said. "We just wanted to keep pushing the score up, go out and have fun."
Gromala was surprised by the MVP award. A veteran of every Lady McLegends game, she said this might be her final appearance.
"I wanted to play because Yolanda (De La Torre) was out there," Gromala said, referring to Hillcrest's star player this season.
"She was excited we were both going to play in the same game," De La Torre said. "It was a lot of fun. We tried to compete with each other. It was kind of hard to block them and rebound with them because we didn't have a lot of bigs."
The Lady McLegends held a 47-39 rebound advantage, including a 7-3 edge in offensive rebounds.
De La Torre scored 10 points, one of four All-Stars in double figures. Jasmine Matthews, of Marian Catholic, led the high school contingent with 16 points, with Simone Law (Marian Catholic) adding 15 and Gintare Surdokaite (Lockport) scoring 12.
It's hard to say what was more impressive, the 106 points the Lady McLegends scored or the 68 they held the high school stars to across 40 minutes. But Turner was sure what she found impressive.
"The win," she said. "The win."
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