Lady Cards are still in search of winning combo
RANDOLPH — It’s been a rough start for the Randolph Lady Cardinals this basketball season and with the holidays coming, they hope to look in their Christmas stockings for some answers.
The Lady Cardinals fell to 0-5 with losses to Wakefield (61-21) and Bloomfield (57-26).
“We had too many turnovers in both games are what presented us with these outcomes,” Randolph head coach Marcus Pappenhausen said. “We need to do a better job passing the ball and handling pressure. The girls need to immerse themselves in the game and understand all that’s going on around them.
“We took some time to watch some film so they can see their mistakes and hopefully be able to fix them.”
Against Wakefield, Jessa Backer scored 13 points while Erin Engel and Backer had seven and six points to pace Randolph against Bloomfield.
Randolph took on Wynot Monday and will get back on the court following the Christmas holiday with their own tournament tipping off Tuesday. “We need to fix our turnovers
“We need to fix our turnovers and that will help us in our ability to get victories,” Pappenhausen said. “That will be our main area of focus in practices that we have over the break. Another area will be understanding and executing our plays to a better degree.
“The break always goes fast with a moratorium and holiday tournament, but we need to focus and get these areas fixed.”
Sophomore Eva Bermel said that the team had to battle while losing her classmate Ella Scott to an injury.
“In the first half we started to struggle to find our groove against Wakefield,” Bermel said. “We started getting into some groove as we were meeting our passes and running our plays.
“Bloomfield was kind of like Wakefield – both first quarters were rough, and we tried to get back into it. It was better than the Wakefield game overall I would say.”
Bermel believes the team’s spirit remains strong as the players seem to have a good connection beyond sport.
“Every team says that it’s the schedule that’s hard and that’s part of it, but then we get to the teams that are more our level,” Bermel said. “We start the year and always put up the fight to work our best so that when the other teams get a win, they have to work for it without it being an easy giveaway.
“Personally, I feel really optimistic for our team. At the end of our season, I think we will be a lot better. It’s just a learning process and I think the rest of the team is that way too. We will be OK, we just have to work and it will come with time.”
Bermel added that the Lady Cardinals need to work on their passing.
“It has not been where we want it,” she said. “We aren’t meeting them, and they are getting turnovers and scoring points. We seemingly struggle with that.”
