Scott Keyes
Sports Scene
St. Louis coach Walter Berry took off a year from coaching to spend more time with his wife and newborn child.
Not a day went by, though, that he didn’t think about the x’s and o’s and the team that was returning to the court.
As a coach, you are always thinking about the next play, but when other things consume your time, sometimes it”s hard to shut down your mind and move in another direction. But Berry did that, and it wasn’t easy.
“When you coach in a smaller town, you have to wear many different hats as a coach,” Berry said. “I’ve known and coached the seniors on this team since they were in the fifth grade. To be able to return this year and see the girls’ success they had on the court is pretty cool to see.”
A year ago the Sharks hovered around the .500 mark, but with a solid group of seniors returning this year, they flourished. St. Louis won the Tri Valley West Division with a 12-2 record, then went on to win district and regional championships before losing in the Class C semifinal round to Nouvel Catholic Central, 47-40. Nouvel would go on to defeat St. Igance 62-40 in the Class C final.
It was a season that brought back respectability to the St. Louis program.
“When you put together a season like this, where everything just comes together on the court, it makes it pretty special,” Berry said. “These girls played with a lot of heart against Nouvel, and we hung tough. They have nothing to hang their heads about. They fought hard, but we came up a little short in the end.”
Against Nouvel, the pesky Sharks held their own and were only down 19-14 at the half. Nouvel held St. Louis without a field goal in the third, but it still only led 28-19.
St. Louis switched to a smaller lineup and began pressing Nouvel in the fourth quarter. The Panthers struggled against the press, giving St. Louis a chance to get back into the game.
“We’ve faced presses all season and haven’t had a problem … I don’t know why we had a problem tonight,” Nouvel coach Mary Jo Skiendziel said. “Once we got the ball in, we were okay. For some reason, we had a hard time inbounding the ball. It’s something we will work on before Thursday.”
St. Louis scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. The smaller lineup forced Berry to sit post player Bri Alspaugh most of the fourth.
“But the press worked at the end. A lot of that might have just been the situation. Teams that are leading and just trying to close out the game have a tendency to struggle against presses,” Berry said.
Alspaugh understood the philosophy Berry implemented late in the game, but it was hard watching her final game on the bench.
“Knowing this was my final high school game, it was hard watching from the bench, but I know why coach did it,” she said. “Even though we lost the game, we showed a lot of fight out there. We played with a lot of heart.”
Nouvel senior Rachel McInerney paced her team with 19 points and 13 rebounds and blocked eight shots in the win. Sophomore Laurel Jacqmain added with 16 points for Nouvel.
Ryan Fagins scored 16 points for the Sharks, who finished the season with a 20-5 record.