Hawks have strong tournament

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Holy Cross Collegiate Hawks senior boys and girls basketball teams both placed second at their home tournament last weekend, and for the coaches it was a positive sight to see because the team’s play improved tremendously from the start to the finish.
“It was really good to finish with a strong game,” said boys Coach Josh Jalbert, in referring to the game against High River’s Notre Dame.
“It was one of the more intense games we’ve been in this year. I was really happy with how the boys reacted to that. They were really excited but there were times where I needed to say ‘hey calm down, just relax out there.’ Overall, it was a really good experience being in that close game.”
Jalbert saw a lot of upside from his group in certain areas of their games where they have become a better basketball team.
“Our shooting was really good and we ran the offense very well. I think the team has really improved with their knowledge of the game and where they need to be on the court. That’s something that’s really helped out the offense. We’re taking higher percentage shots than we were at the beginning of the year. “
Meanwhile, Michael Annicchiarico’s girls opened the tournament by losing to St. Joesph’s of Brooks, and he knew his team had their work cut out for them going up against an experienced team.
“I think we had some good looks at the basket,” said Annicchiarico.
“We were just not hitting some of those key shots. Particularly in the second quarter we started to get pretty ice cold with our shooting and they started to make a little bit of a lead on us. We need to work on our rebounding down low, that was an area of weakness for us, Brooks has some size and strength down low and that caught our girls a bit off guard.”
The team was able to make adjustments after the loss and Annicchiarico was impressed with the drive the girls had.
“We started driving the basket more,” he said.
“In that first game we were settling for a lot of outside shots and not hitting them. Anytime you can drive the basket and make higher percentage shots or go to the free throw line, it’s going to increase your offense.”
He said he was satisfied with the second place finish, considering it was the first tournament for a lot of the girls at the senior level and it was a good weekend to take as a stepping stone for the rest of the season.