River Ridge hopes to use its first postseason appearance since 1996 to gain experience.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published February 19, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - Tonight is about tomorrow. Tonight is about the future.
River Ridge will make its first playoff appearance since 1996, and it has earned a tough draw: Lake Gibson, ranked 10th in the Class 5A state poll. The Braves have won more than three times as many games (22) as Royal Knights (7).
But River Ridge coach Al Sorrentino and his team are undaunted. In the preseason, making the postseason was the team's goal.
Now that the Knights (7-14) are here, Sorrentino sees it as a stepping stone, a building block toward bigger and better things.
Things certainly could have been better for River Ridge. Its best finish the past five seasons was .500.
"I think the girls are excited, and they know we're going to play a pretty darn good team," Sorrentino said. "What we've talked about these last two weeks of the season is about trying to gain a little respect for our program.
"If we go out there, make a good showing and somehow come away with a win, that would go a long way toward that."
It was a rough start for the Knights. Youth, inexperience and injuries - power forward Melissa Kurzweil suffered a season-ending knee injury - led to a 3-11 start.
But even then River Ridge knew its season wasn't over. In a three-team district, it takes one win in the tournament to advance to the final and secure a playoff spot.
To turn things around, Sorrentino said he had to throw out some of the team's more complicated defensive presses.
"We concentrated on running just one press if we really needed it," Sorrentino said. "We mostly concentrated on playing halfcourt man-to-man."
The team started executing better, reducing its turnovers. Jackie Studebaker boosted her rebounding, Kelly Tehan became a tenacious defender and twin guards Ryane and Lauren Hille started taking better care of the ball.
Better defense plus less turnovers equaled more wins. The Knights won four of their last seven, including the third-seed's 45-36 upset of second-seeded Mitchell in the Class 5A, District 5 tournament.
Tonight's playoff game, Sorrentino said, can only help the program. Not hurt it.
"There's only a few teams that are still playing, and we're one of them," Sorrentino said. "It's something we wanted. We wanted to be in a playoff game.
"We think we're going to be pretty good in the next year or two, and this will only help us gain from that experience."
