Last Tuesday night, the Randolph-Macon women’s basketball team tipped off the 2011-12 season with a 67-51 victory over visiting Marymount, Va.

  It was an up and down game, not in the pace of play but rather performance. The contest started sloppy but finished with flare to show both R-MC’s potential and a need for improvement.

  Despite being the season opener, there were first game jitters that exceeded even R-MC coach Carroll LaHaye’s expectations. “I actually was very surprised at how nervous we were,” she said. “We have some returning players that want to do as well as they did last year, so I think a little bit of pressure on them- First home game. I thought we were real sloppy. I thought we were really nervous. Hopefully we got that out of system.”

  Marymount looked no better in a first half that was dominated by 30 combined turnovers; 15 by each team. Surprisingly, nearly half of R-MC’s turnovers were committed by their experienced senior class. “With experienced players you don’t expect those kind of mistakes over and over again,” LaHaye said.

  Shooting percentages were little better for either team with R-MC finishing the half at 36.7 percent and Marymount barely over 30 percent.

  Senior guard Maggie Roy came into the contest as the top returning scorer for the Yellow Jackets but struggled through a miserable 1-for-6 performance in the first period. “Maggie was not taking the shot that really comes to her,” LaHaye said. “She was forcing a couple of shots and she’s a very good shooter.”
  Roy agreed with her coach’s assessment. “I was nervous and I just wasn’t taking shots I normally take.” 

  Surprisingly, the one player that appeared the least nervous and provided a steadying influence was sophomore forward Paige Mills. Last season, Mills saw the least minutes of any returning player but that did not show in her play on Tuesday night. The 5-10 redhead finished the night with five rebounds, two blocks, a steal, an assist, no turnovers and nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in 16 minutes of action.

  “It’s just my philosophy to hustle hard and do your best the entire game and if you’re doing well, you’re doing well,” Mills said.

  “Paige has really improved,” LaHaye said. “She worked really hard in the off season to be a contributor this year and she’s a very smart player and she knows where the ball is and she anticipates very well. I was really pleased with the minutes that she gave us tonight.”

  Mills performance couldn’t have come at a better time. Returning center Lindsey Sharman, is out indefinitely, therefore, when starter Taylor Wieczorcek picked up two quick fouls and the Jackets needed someone to step up and battle against Marymount’s 5-10 Julie Tomesheksi and 6-0 Samantha Kane.

  “We got good minutes from Paige tonight, we needed it,” LaHaye said. “She knew we needed it and I thought she did a great job.”

  Despite turnovers, it appeared R-MC was off to a good start, jumping out to a 12-2 lead five minutes into the game.

  Marymont did not hit their first field goal until the 15:38 mark then nearly two minutes passed before they connected on their second.

  Coming into the season, LaHaye liked the talent of her freshman class and she showed confidence in them early on. Less than eight minutes into the game, LaHaye had all three freshmen on the floor at one time with only one starter in the lineup.

  Kellie Cortina provided solid defense and ball-handing and finished the night with two steals despite early foul trouble, Caroline Young came away with three rebounds and two blocks in 10 minutes of play.

  But it was former J.R. Tucker guard Sarah Parsons who was a real spark down the stretch. In eight minutes of play, the 5-4 Parsons came away with a steal, two rebounds and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

  Parsons showed why she had earned the nickname Jet, racing down court on defense and offense.

  “Sarah Parsons, our little speedster gets going, there’s not many people who can keep up with her,” LaHaye said.

  Marymount managed only two free throws before the starters returned.

  “I think our freshman will give us a lot of good minutes this year,” LaHye said. “I’m very excited about what they are capable of doing.”
  Ironically, with the Yellow Jacket starters back on the floor, Marymount went on a run. Behind 4-of-5 shooting from Katelyn Fischer, the visitors climbed back into the contest to trail 29-24 at the break.

  There were no smiles on the Yellow Jacket players when the exited the locker room for the second half. “I was really disappointed in our play in the first half and think we’re a much better defensive team,” LaHaye said. “So I laid it on pretty quick about our lack of defense and also our lack of value for the basketball.”

  Despite a step up in intensity, Marymount continued to trim the R-MC lead.
  With 13:14 to play, Marymount guard Sam Spencer connected on a 3-pointer to trim the Yellow Jacket lead to two, 35-33.

  Senior forward Jillian Asay (10 points) answered for R-MC but Spencer drilled another three to pull Marymount within one.

  It wasn’t until there was seven minutes left in the contest that the first game jitters disappeared and the Yellow Jackets tightened up their defense, which led to fast breaks and easy scores.

  “I know if I see someone guarding the ball hard it makes me step up my defense which makes another girl step up hers,” Roy said. “It’s just a team effort.”

  With the increased pressure Wieczorek (17 points) suddenly came to life, scoring nine straight points to give R-MC a 46-38 cushion.

  Roy (13 points) then found her stroke and the pair scored the next 10 Jacket points and a 56-44 lead with less than four minutes to play.

  The Yellow Jackets proved effective going inside down the stretch to widen the margin at the free throw line. Though they only shot 64 percent free throws for the game, R-MC made 9-of-10 in the final three minutes and Mills capped off the scoring with a short jumper.

  R-MC senior Molly Brown finished with 12 points and four rebounds.

Marymount (Va.) (0-1)..... 24 27-51
Randolph-Macon (1-0)..... 29 38-67