Live Oak gets short rest before league action starts; want to
work on conditioning and get into better shape
Morgan Hill – The Lady Acorns dropped two close games last week to Pioneer and Evergreen Valley and now have one week’s rest before they head into Tri-County Athletic League action on January 6.
On Thursday Live Oak faced off against the Evergreen Valley Cougars, losing narrowly 42-39. The Acorns anemic second half scoring caused them to lose a 24-12 halftime lead as the Cougars found their offensive rhythm and surged past Live Oak.
“Those were two very tough games and at times we were winning both,” said Acorns coach Jeff Perkins. “The girls are playing so hard. They are fighting, battling in every game.”
Colleen Henningsen lead Live Oak with 15 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots while teammate Mattie Borges added eight points, four rebounds, four steals and four blocked shots. Anna Curley finished with seven points, five rebounds and four steals for the Acorns.
“We played really good solid defense,” said Perkins. “In the second half Evergreen came out and pressured us man-to-man. We got tired down the stretch and lost our confidence on the offensive end.”
In Tuesday 48-43 loss to Pioneer, Borges had a huge game for the Acorns. Borges recorded a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Borges also had four steals and one blocked shot in the loss.
“Mattie had an unbelievable game,” said Perkins. “We just couldn’t finish. We should have won.”
Live Oak was down to just seven players on Tuesday, due to injury and family vacations, and needed to bring up two freshman players from the junior varsity team to help fill in.
“The freshman did well in their first varsity game,” said Perkins.
Heading into the fourth quarter the Acorns narrowly led Pioneer 32-30, but were outscored 18-11 in the period when their energy was sapped.
“It is hard for our offense to make critical scores when we are pressured man-to-man,” said Perkins. “At any moment they can just play so well.”
Perkins wants to work on the Acorns’ conditioning in the few days they have off before league starts next week.
“Hopefully we can get back on track and start a winning streak,” said Perkins. “We need to be doing a better job when were getting a tough man-to-man defense. We will work on conditioning and getting into better shape so we can finish games strong.”
The Lady Acorns kick off league play Friday against Notre Dame at home.
On the following Wednesday Live Oak heads to Gilroy to go up against a very tough Mustangs team that spent the past week participating in the Tournament of Champions in Arizona.
With just 10 players on its roster, Live Oak knows how important it is to be at the top of their game and have all their players well rested as they head into league because the level of play in the TCAL is always extremely tough and physical.
