In the theatre, it’s called a cold reading when you're thrown into the spotlight with little rehearsal.
On the basketball court, it may be cold but jumping in without a lot of practice time could be fever-inducing.
The St. Thomas More Knights senior girls basketball team were able to make the cold part look hot, launching the new season and their STM Chancellor tournament with a rousing 55-23 victory over the Centennial Centaurs on Thursday.
The Burnaby squad took to the floor having had just two days of practices as a full unit, due to four players having been major parts of another B.C. provincial volleyball tournament team.
Fresh off a 10th-place finish at the volleyball court in Vernon, the quartet fused themselves into the basketball system, and with some help from their teammates, glided to an easy first win.
“This was our first game,” noted co-coach Jen Farano, who shares the bench duties with Winston Brown and David Kazun. “We hadn’t had any exhibition games or what, because our volleyball team is so amazing and they go to provincials every year. … We didn’t get them back until Sunday, so we had Tuesday and Wednesday practices and then right into games.”
They proceeded to pace the Centaurs with a press defence and fleet transition game that got them a 10-5 lead after 10 minutes. Then the Knights kicked it up a notch, out-scoring the Coquitlam rival 19-2 in the second quarter, with Gigi Gaspar cashing in nine points alone.
While they maintained that pace into the third quarter, building up a 44-11 advantage after 30 minutes, Centennial gathered some of that back in a fourth frame where, with the game already out of reach, they out-scored STM 12-11.
With a full gym of exuberant fans cheering them on, the Knights put on a show.
"We play a fairly high tempo style game, and we’re not big, so we’re going to have to make sure we’re transitioning down the floor," said Farano. “Because we don’t have height we need to pressure the ball, in the back court especially, to create turnovers and to tire the other team out."
Grade 11 post Tatiana Yau cashed in a team-high 17 points, while Gaspar finished with 15. Twin sister Bella Gaspar counted five points, while Emily Diaz netted seven.
The win catapults STM into Friday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal against either West Vancouver or Mark Isfeld. The championship final hits the Burnaby campus court at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.
For Farano, the performance was a perfect way to break the ice, and shake any nerves out.
“I loved their energy, I loved that defensively they were really focused and we were able to take some of the turnovers and score on transition,” she said. “Playing in front of the home crowd definitely gets the adrenaline pumping for the girls. It’s a super athletic group this year, and they’re tonnes of fun.”
The tourney’s draw also includes fellow 2-A No. 7 ranked Lambrick Park, and Single-A’s top-ranked Credo-Christian of Langley.
