Addison Trail picks up the pace, overcomes Fenton
Addison Trail coach Rob Schader wanted his girls basketball team to play faster. Fenton was the right opponent for that.
Forced into an up-tempo game by the Bison's helter-skelter style, the Blazers rose to the challenge for a 62-44 victory Tuesday night at Addison Trail in the schools' combined Thanksgiving tournament.
"It's actually good for us to play a team like that," Schader said. "The last 12 years that I've been here, we try to push the tempo. We really haven't been to this point (this year). I know the season's still young, but we're just kind of lulling offensively. So it was good to play that up-tempo pace.
"It's really what we want to try to do to score, and we were able to score some more points tonight because of it. It was good for us to see that pace."
Offensively, Fenton (1-3) tries to shoot quickly with a lot of 3-pointers. Defensively, the Bison are pressing and trapping, looking for steals. They played all 17 girls on the roster, substituting in groups of five every minute or two.
The Bison forced 43 Blazers turnovers, but they couldn't stop Addison Trail (3-1) entirely.
"It took a little bit to adjust, but I think coming together as a team and pressing the whole time and playing together and really shutting them down with our defense, I think that helped a lot," Blazers guard Nicci Scorza said.
Scorza displayed a complete game with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
"I really liked being in control of the game. Being a senior and being a captain, it's really nice to have games like this," Scorza said.
"She played great," added Schader, who celebrated his birthday with a win. "Three-year varsity starter, I thought she played exactly as she should play at this point. She's in midseason form already. A lot of rebounds."
Senior post Berenice Berumen added 15 points, and junior post Serena Gilliam had 11 points and 9 rebounds.
Addison Trail took a 9-7 lead after one quarter, but the margin quickly reached double digits in the second quarter when a Berumen basket made the score 19-9. The lead peaked at 22 points.
Junior Alexus Arzola led the Bison with 10 points, and senior Amari Benbow scored 8.
"This was great," said coach Dave Mello, in his first season as Fenton's basketball coach. "I couldn't be happier, couldn't be more proud of them. Their effort's great. They fought to the final horn all four games. We're on the right track."
The Bison get a little break in the schedule to try to learn their new offense and defense, with nine practices around just one game.
"Now is when we actually start our season," Mello said.