GRAHAMSVILLE: There is true comaraderie and respect for the game of basketball between the coaching staffs at Roscoe Central and Tri-Valley.
This was more than evident Tuesday night at Grahamsville when the visiting Lady Blue Devils came into town for a non-league game.
A long standing coaches respect for each other and friendship was visibly shown between Roscoe boys head coach Fred Ahart and Bears Ladies coach Jason Closs before the start of the game as the two shared a few moments of conversation which provided a photo opportunity for us.
Closs and Ahart go back many years when Closs was a high school basketball player at Roscoe (1990-1999) and was coached by Ahart.
Closs was part of the guest speakers group and officials who attended the "Coach" Fred Ahart gym dedication ceremony at Roscoe in early January of 2014.
Ahart has indeed been a mentor to many athletes and the respect each has for the other was there to see Tuesday in the Tri-Valley gym.
Fred's wife, Becky, coaches both the girls junior varsity and varsity team with only six players on the varsity squad and five on the JV team and match-ups against larger squads is sometimes very difficult as could be seen Tuesday night.
Roscoe entered this contest as a member of the high school D division in the OCIAA and brought into this game a 3-10 overall record (2-2 in league play).
The larger Tri-Valley C team opened a 15-6 first quarter lead, limited the Blue Devils to 2 points in the second quarter which took them into a half-time lead of 39-8 before finishing with a 60-25 final.
The comaraderie between the Ahart's and the two schools continued into the girls varsity game. We have seen some in the coaching field who would continue to put the pedal to the metal and increase the score with little or no respect for what the game and good sportsmanship should really be about.... but this is not coach Closs.
The Tri-Valley coach brings sportsmanship and a coaching attitude and ability to the game that is good to see as he freely substituted his bench players into the second half of the game allowing respect for Coach Becky and her team. Both squads scored 11 points each in the third quarter and produced a 10-6 advantage for Tri-Valley in the final eight minutes of play.
Tri-Valley forward Elizabeth Hannold led the first half scoring with four points in the first quarter and eight points in the second quarter all off two pointers.
Three Tri-Valley players scored in double figures, Nicole Beach led with 16 points, and 12 points each were recorded by Elizabeth Hannold and Jackie Musa.
Alyssa Diaz led the Blue Devils with 11 points off a two trays, two 2's and a foul shot.
Roscoe committed 28 turnovers to Tri-Valley's 18.
Coach Closs in post game comments on how difficult it is to coach a game like this said, "the first half we were aggressive and we got to work on some things in the first half that we hadn't been able to do in the past."
Closs noted that "in the second half we moved the ball around more and talked to the girls at half time about doing the right thing and it was all by design and to the girls credit they listened extremely well."
He game credit to the Roscoe team "for hanging in there and for the three point shooting of three of their players."
Coach Becky when asked about her squads tray shooting abilities said, "the girls work on their three-point shooting everyday in practice."
In giving her comments about a game like this she noted, "I congratulated Jason's team as they did a nice job and my girls played hard and they didn't quit as they did what they needed to do and so we move on from this."
Roscoe's overall record is now 3-ll. Tri-Valley evens it's overall record at 7-7 and is 2-1 in league play.
Roscoe Central boys varsity basketball coach Fred Ahart, left, is surely sharing some past memories with Tri-Valley girls basketball coach Jason Closs prior to the start of the girls Tuesday's varsity tilt at Grahamsville.
-
Tri-Valley's Nicole Beach (12) gets off a two-point attempt against Roscoe's Varissa Newkirk (32) in the Bears 60-25 win Tuesday at Grahamsville. Beach led both teams with 16 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment