During the Crimson and Silver scrimmage Calvary Lutheran hosted Nov. 17, the girls team was scheduled to play two periods.
But after the conclusion of the second, head coach Bethany Marble approached the scorer's table, and the teams returned to the court to continue playing.
It proved to be the correct decision. After a slow start on offense from both sides in the first two periods, both teams came alive in the final few minutes as shots started to fall. That in itself might be a little surprising: with Haley Braun, one of two returning seniors, unable to make the scrimmage, the Lady Lions had both coaches suit up one to a team, and played without substitutes.
"We were only planning on two, just because we had few numbers," Marble said, "but at the beginning they were like, 'Hey, this is really fun, let's do another one,' so we said, 'OK, let's add another.' And things really started to fall into motion for a lot of them and the shots started to fall in the third quarter, so I'm glad we did it."
Much of the offseason's progress was made in the week before the scrimmage, then things improved so much in the final third of the scrimmage. The Calvary girls had a week to prepare for today's 4:30 p.m. opener against St. Elizabeth at the Eugene Tournament, so Marble was very optimistic about the possibility of further growth in the week leading up to the tournament after the progress made in the scrimmage.
"I was really impressed with what I saw today," Marble said. "I'm really excited. They've already improved in a week, and we have a whole 'nother week before our first game, so I'm excited to see what we'll do still in this week before our first game."
The Lady Lions finished 16-8 last year and fell in a close semifinal game to eventual district champion Sturgeon. Braun, who was the CCAA Most Valuable Player last year, and Katy Allen are the team's two returning seniors and were reliable playmakers a year ago. Rachel Thompson, Chloe Baker and Claire Hart also looked good in the scrimmage.
Marble's goal for this season's team is to play an exciting form of basketball.
"One of the things I said after we were finished, I said I want us to be able to push the ball up the floor and keep running the floor all the time," Marble said. "So that fourth quarter we're still pushing the ball and still making those shots, not the ones that are tired and missing the shots. I really want us to push so even if we're struggling the first half, we're still going to push and run the ball up the floor and keep shooting so they will fall in the second half. I feel like that will work for the girls really well."