This is a little delayed, but between weird schedules, deadlines and the upcoming holidays (which always seem to send things into chaos) I guess better late than never!

Here are Gavin Cree’s thoughts on the last week of games, including the win over Juanita last Friday and the team’s loss to top ranked O’Dea at Bellevue College.

“I thought we got better this weekend. We defended very well in both contests. Against Juanita, I think our size was a little overwhelming for them to handle. With our length, we are able to contest shots really well – it is hard to shoot over us. We outrebounded them 42-16, which is the way it should be. We’ve still got to take better care of the basketball on the offensive end.”

He said O’Dea was a nice test for the Islanders. O’Dea is currently ranked 6th in the Reporter sportswriter’s basketball poll.

“O’Dea was a nice test for us. If we connect at the free throw line and block out down the stretch I think we win that game. O’Dea is one of the more athletic teams in our district, and we know that we can play with them. Despite the loss, I think our team gained a great deal of confidence from that game. Any time you hold your opponent to 43 points you expect to win the game. Right now our defense is ahead of our offense which isn’t unusual early in the year. We’ve got to develop a chemistry offensively which will come with time. There are a lot of guys out there without much experience, so we will keep getting better.”

The Islanders are 2-2 so far this season and will play Interlake tomorrow night (Friday, Dec. 18) with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

You might have noticed a story on our Web site yesterday afternoon detailing the first 4A/3A basketball poll done by the Reporter sportswriters. A group of us from around the Reporter newspapers network vote each week on our top 10 picks for the boys and girls teams throughout the state in each classification.

I’ve posted on our site the list for the first week of games. It will be updated each week, probably Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Joel Willits, my counter-part at the Bellevue Reporter posted his thoughts on his blog From the Sidelines.

The Mercer Island girls are currently ranked 6th, the Bellevue boys team was ranked 6th as well. Keep checking back to see how the local teams are doing. Both the Mercer Island boys and girls will be playing at Juanita tomorrow night – the boys start at 6 p.m. and the girls tip off at 7:30 p.m. (note – the times are different than typical regular season games).

Thoughts or comments on the teams listed/voted in this week? Let me know!

Here’s some notes on last night’s losses for Mercer Island against 4A Issaquah:

Girls basketball – assistant coach Beth Christofferson

On game standouts: Sarah Taylor is a fighter. She walked away with a mild concussion after an elbow to the head. She’s a battler.

Christofferson said Taylor’s concussion is very mild and she will likely only miss two or three days as a result.

Kate DaPron did not play last night and as a result the girls had some rebounding trouble, but Christofferson said they will be working on it and did come out stronger in the second half of the game.

Boys basketball – head coach Gavin Cree

On the team’s first official game with the 35 second shot clock. The Islanders never ran out of time, but Issaquah did at one point in the game.

We’ve spent a little bit of time with it, but not too much. To be honest, 35 seconds is a long time. We’ve played with it on trips to California many times. The shot clock has it’s biggest impact at the end of the game. In the past, teams have stalled when they have a lead. Now, coaches and players have to take the shot clock into consideration. We’ve talked most about using our defense to run down the clock for the opposing team.

On nerves: I really didn’t feel any nerves. I felt some adrenaline with the band and the fans there. We have such a great high school basketball atmosphere at Mercer Island. We remind our players to be thankful for that. As a player I think you are always anxious to tip-off and get started. I think our guys were a little tight, but I don’t think it was a big factor. As I’ve said before, it’s a long season. One of our focuses this year is moving to the “next play.” We’ve got to learn from this one and flush it away. I think we understand what we need to work on in order to be at our best later in the year.

See next week’s print edition for a full review of the game against Issaquah.

Sheryl Swoopes, a player for the Seattle Storm WNBA team, will be assisting with coaching duties during the current 2009-2010 Mercer Island High School girls basketball season.
Swoopes, who attended Texas Tech, has played basketball professionally for 11 years, joining the Storm in 2008 as a guard. She won an NCAA woman’s basketball championship in 1993 with the Texas Tech Lady Raiders, and has three Olympic gold medals in basketball from the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.
She joined the WNBA in it’s first season, playing with the Houston Comets, and remained with the Comets until 2007. She has been apart of four WNBA champion teams and earned the WNBA MVP award three times in her career.
This season at Mercer Island Swoopes will be taking on some of the sideline coaching duties during the Islanders games while MIHS girls head coach Jamie Prescott is on maternity leave.
Assistant coach Beth Christofferson said Monday afternoon prior to practice that Swoopes has been great, really helping the girls and that she just wants to make the team better.
See this week’s issue of the Reporter for the MIHS winter sports previews and watch for continued coverage of the girls basketball team, as well as all other sports on Mercer Island!