Mt. St. Mary hoops expected to give it all rest of the way

After earning a few big victories as of late, while maintaining a winning record, things continue to be going well for the Mt. St. Mary Thunder girls basketball team. Though, head coach Marissa Clark, still expects her players to give it their all for the rest of the season.

That message was heard loud and clear after a slow start earlier this week in a Monsignor Martin league game with St. Mary’s. Mt. St. Mary turned things around to complete a blowout 54-19 win over the St. Mary’s Lancers on Monday.

After the Lancers took an 8-3 lead after one quarter, Mt. St. Mary outscored the Lancers 21-4 in the second quarter. That pace continued for the rest of the game as Mt. St. Mary almost tripled the score of the opposition.

So how were the Thunder able to turn things around in such a big way?

“We settled down and talked about what we needed to do to put a little bit more ball pressure on them and force them to make mistakes, in turn, giving us opportunities to score points,” said Clark, whose team improved to 11-7 overall and 5-4 in Monsignor Martin play.

Despite the rapid turnaround, Mt. St. Mary’s had a scary moment when starting forward Marly Wyzykowski went down with a leg injury.

With Wyzykowski out of commission, sophomore Elize Kreuz was called to action and came through big for the Thunder.

“[Kreuz] played very well,” said Clark. “She really knows how to step up as soon as we need her. She’s energetic, she wants the ball and wants to win.”

The injury to Wyzykowski, at that point in the game, could have been a fatal blow to Mt. St. Mary’s. But Kreuz stepping in and immediately making plays helped the Thunder maintain momentum and drive to earn what turned out to be a dominating win.

Wyzykowski did later return to the game and played well despite favoring her injured leg.

Another player who had a big game for the Thunder was forward Shannon Pelitera. Whether she was scoring points, outmuscling players for rebounds or creating turnovers, the senior playmaker imposed her will throughout the entire game.

“She [Pelitera] played phenomenally,” exclaimed Clark. “She was the spark to this team. She really wanted it. She played beautifully.”

This type of performance is nothing new for Pelitera.

“[Pelitera] is definitely one of our top players,” said Clark. “She’s energetic and has that determination to want to win.”

Clark is hoping to see the kind of effort her team gave over the final three quarters throughout the remainder of the season.

“The message for the rest of the season is to play 100 percent of every second of every game,” stated Clark.