Story Photos
 Christy Kirkpatrick, one of four freshman on the Mark Morris roster, disches off as Battle Ground's Gabi Dixson and Haley Grossman apply pressure Tuesday. Bill Wagner / The Daily News
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MM girls fall in opener against Battle Ground
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 11:31 PM PST
By Ben Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe challenge facing the Mark Morris varsity girls basketball team this winter is not unlike the difficulties encountered by total strangers who are partnered at random and forced to learn a complex dance set to an unfamiliar tune on a very public stage.
Toes will be stubbed.
Steps will be missed.
Rhythm and polish will be elusive.
“I think we will improve every game,” said first-year Monarchs coach Scott Ruhland, after Mark Morris fell 56-30 to a bigger, more physical, more experienced Battle Ground squad in its season-opening game at Ted M. Natt Court on Tuesday. “Our rate of improvement depends on how quickly we adjust to the varsity level. The whole staff is new, and we’re teaching our coaching styles and our program to all three levels. We have a lot of potential. It will take us some time to settle in.”
For Ruhland, who has coached at the youth level for the past decade but last prowled a varsity sideline in 1995 at Rainier, neither the final score in Tuesday’s debut, nor the rough-and-tumble journey to reach it, were cause for serious concern.
Ruhland acknowledged a need for more aggressive play. For better decision-making. And especially for better shooting than the 10-for-47 from the field or 10-for-31 from the line that doomed the Monarchs.
But he liked how his team relaxed and made a run at the end of the first quarter and into the second, after spotting the Tigers a 15-2 lead. He was pleased with the play of the four promising freshmen on his roster. He was “proud of the effort.”
“They gave all they had,” Ruhland said. “Now they know they’ve gotta give more.”
Battle Ground put the game away in the third quarter, exploding on a 16-2 run that turned a six-point lead into a bulletproof cushion. Brittany Martin had seven of her nine points during the run, which was aided by the home team’s cold shooting.
After making five baskets in the first quarter, the Monarchs found only bricks at the end of their jumpers. Their 21-percent rate of field goal conversion included misses on all 11 3-pointers attempted.
Battle Ground, which was taller and more muscular at every starting position, went freely to zone looks on defense, and Mark Morris never made it pay.
“I was afraid of zone pressure,” Ruhland said. “We’ll see a steady diet of it, especially in our league.”
For all their struggles shooting and protecting the ball — 17 of 31 MM turnovers came in the second half — the Monarchs did flex their ability to compete on effort alone. Mark Morris attacked the basket relentlessly toward the end of the first quarter, and after the first eight minutes of play, three Battle Ground starters had two fouls apiece. A steal by senior Christy Polis led to a fast-break basket by freshman Kelee Lambert, and Lambert’s own steal led to a bucket by Kaytlin Ingman as MM closed the period on an 8-0 run.
After connecting on six of their first 14 shots, the Tigers went cold, and missed 11 straight to give the Monarchs a comeback opening. But Mark Morris did not make a basket until sophomore Taybra Teeters converted in the post off an assist from freshman Christy Kirkpatrick with 29 seconds left in the half.
Kiley Thomas buried three 3-pointers during the Tigers’ 15-2, game-opening salvo and finished with a game-high 12 points. Gabi Dixson owned the paint and added 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
Ingman came off the bench to score a team-high 10 points for MM. Junior Erica Niemi added seven points; no other Monarch scored more than four.
Five-foot-4 senior guard Hayley Brusewitz battled for a team-high eight rebounds as Mark Morris scored a moral victory on the glass, snatching 40 boards to the visitor’s 34. Teeters and Ingman pulled down six rebounds each, Polis had four steals, Kirkpatrick dished four assists and junior Nicole Duscha had three blocked shots.
Tigers 56, monarchs 30
BATTLE GROUND (56) — Mai Galusha 1, Brittany Martin 9, Haley Grossman 8, Gabi Dixson 10, Kiley Thomas 12, T. Dixson 4, Merriman 0, Westcott 0, Codi 0, Black 4
MARK MORRIS (30) — Hayley Brusewitz 0, Christy Polis 4, Christy Kirkpatrick 3, Erica Niemi 0, Taybra Teeters 7, Kaytlin Ingman 10, Nicole Duscha 1, Kelly Baierl 1, Kiyana Parvas 0, Kelee Lambert 2, Kelci DuBois 2
Battle Ground 16 10 20 10 — 56
Mark Morris 12 8 7 3 — 30
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