Spoofhounds set for district tournament
DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Maryville girls basketball coach Quentin Albrecht talks to his team during a timeout against Excelsior Springs during the Cameron Tournament on Jan. 25.
Starting Monday, it becomes a win-or-go-home scenario for area basketball teams. Maryville’s girls team will battle East Buchanan on Monday (4:30 p.m.) before the boys team takes on Brookfield on Tuesday (6 p.m.).
No. 7 Maryville girls vs. No. 2 East Buchanan
Josie Fortney, a Pittsburg State commit, leads the Bulldogs into postseason play and Maryville coach Quentin Albrecht knows she is one of the players who his team will have to keep an eye on.
“The (Madison) McCreary girl and Fortney are the two who we need to limit what they do,” he said.
Maryville played East Buch twice during the regular season, dropping both games by scores of 47-33 and 45-28.
The Spoofhounds are really focusing on themselves heading into the district tournaments, as they know they’ve seen what almost every team in the field has to offer.
“Right now, we’re mainly working on setting and using screens better, we’re trying to get better rotation of the ball out of our zone offense, and some different things like that,” Albrecht said. “If we shoot well, we can be in the game, but if we don’t shoot well, it puts a lot of pressure on our defense.”
Maryville hasn’t been favored in a lot of games this season, so they are used to the underdog role, which they will play again on Monday.
Albrecht said his team is familiar with that tag, but hopes it doesn’t always carry that distinction.
“We’re accustomed to the underdog role, so we know how to be in that position,” he said. “We hope, someday in the not-too-distant future, we won’t always be the underdog. At this point in time, this group of girls knows how to play in the underdog role and I think they really look forward to it.”
No. 1 Maryville boys vs. No. 8 Brookfield
Brookfield’s losing record makes this appear to be a cakewalk for the Spoofhounds on paper, but coach Matt Stoecklein knows that the team can’t think of it that way.
“You still have to come to play,” Stoecklein said. “Those kids are going to come to play and they are going to work hard, especially early. If some things go their way, then that’s going to lift up their energy and their spirit.”
Maryville has seen Trenton, the No. 2 seed in the district, as well as Bishop LeBlond, and Hamilton so far this season and are 3-0 against the lot.
Stoecklein said that makes his team even more comfortable going in.
“It give us confidence,” he said. “I think we’ve beaten those teams by 17 or more. With Hamilton, they have one of the best players in the area. He can score 30 points on any given night.”
Going into next week, Stoecklein wants to see his team have better practices.
He wasn’t happy with the overall look of Thursday’s practice.
“We’re just trying to have championship-level type practices,” he said. “I don’t know if they are thinking we’re going to walk through some of these games or what, but we have to get ready now for, not only Friday, but the postseason. Not all their minds are where they need to be.”
Some of the players, especially the seniors, are still holding a little bit of anger from having to share the Midland Empire Conference title with Benton.
Golightly, one of those seniors, said the team is going to use that as fuel, and he is confident that they’ll make plays when they need to.
“We don’t want to lose again,” he said. “Our goal is to go as far as we can go. That’s what we’ve been working for since we were six years old. We might as well go do it. In our losses that we do have, we haven’t shot the ball well, but that will come. Once we get in playoff time, guys start stepping up and making plays.”
