West Girl's Basketball Still Looking for First Win of the Season After Loss to Kings Park

Despite outscoring Kings Park in the fourth quarter and a strong second half offensive output, Smithtown West could not overcome their first half scoring woes as the Bulls fell to the Lady Kingsmen 60-32 Thursday.

West coach Katie Combs said although she was pleased with the second half performance of her team she wasn't happy with how they played in the first half.

"In the first half I thought I was going to fall asleep," she said.

Kings Park (2-0-0, 5-1-0) jumped out to an early 11-0 lead until Melissa Meyers broke the West (0-1-0, 0-4-0) scoring draught on a layup with 4:40 left in the first quarter. The basket was the only points the Bulls put up in the first quarter as the Lady Kingsmen went into the second quarter up 23-2.

Kings Park continued its strong offense in the second quarter and ended the half with a 28-point lead on West, 38-10.

"We came out right off the bat and our shots were falling early, we played aggressive, we played hard defense which we always do, our offense stepped it up a little bit," said Kings Park coach Tom Edmunson.

"We try and have everyone score," said Kings Park guard Shannon Ahern. "We all scored today. It's just pass and cut and our team is really working well together."

Ahern, the youngest player on the Kings Park roster, provided a spark off the bench for the Lady Kingsmen. Ahern had seven points on the game and her contributions to the team went beyond statistics as she set the tone for the team offensively.

"Shannon, she's a feisty little one," Edmunson said. "The only downfall she has is her size and whatever she lacks in size she makes up for in heart … she fights for every rebound, she doesn't get pushed off the ball very easily even though she's tiny, she's a leader out there. For a ninth grader to go out there and run our offensive without any questions and make the right passes and call the right plays just about every possession it says a lot about where she's going to be in the next couple of years."

The Bulls came out in the second half with a stronger, fast-paced offense than in the first half, led by the guard play of Savannah Miller and the inside game of Melissa Meyers and Katherine Delanty. Delanty led all West scorers with 8 points.

"Catherine is real good, we pulled her on the wing a little bit today to get her to go to the basket which really helped us, especially in the second half," Combs said. "She can bang inside, she can play outside. Catherine, as a freshman, is a valuable asset to the team."

Delanty said with some work the team could see success with a tough presence in the paint.

"We definitely want to be on the inside, we just have to become stronger," Delanty said.

Combs said the teams' rough start to the season is due to the youth of the team, with only one returning senior on the roster, but will improve as the season progresses.

"There's nothing we can do when we're so young, they have juniors and seniors against our freshman and sophomores," Combs said. "It's just going to be a learning process and we're only four games in … As long as they stay positive and keep going they're going to make improvements. They've already improved, they just don't see it – it's a matter of confidence."

Miller said the practices are quality and productive, and team will see success when they bring that practice quality into their game.

"Our past two practices before the games were amazing," she said. "When you put us in a game everyone either shakes up or its nerve-racking."

West will be on the road to face their next opponent, Bayport-Blue Point, on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 8:30 a.m.