Despite an eventual 42-29 loss, the Life Center Academy’s girls’ basketball team showed incredible tenacity in its home opener versus top-ranked Girard on Dec. 5.
After falling behind 15-3, the Warriors refused to die and came back with a 17-3 run to cut their deficit to 22-20 at the half.
By:Sean Moylan
Despite an eventual 42-29 loss, the Life Center Academy’s girls’ basketball team showed incredible tenacity in its home opener versus top-ranked Girard on Dec. 5.
After falling behind 15-3, the Warriors refused to die and came back with a 17-3 run to cut their deficit to 22-20 at the half.
"We had them (Girard) on the run," said the Warriors’ head coach Peter Pace.
Unfortunately, in the second half Girard used its superior size to score some easy baskets inside and come out on top.
Nonetheless, Life Center’s starting junior guard Helen Brown had a strong game with 9 points.
"Helen’s the glue that keeps our team together," said Coach Pace.
Stefani Bodrog, another starting junior guard on the Warriors, contributed 10 points to her team’s cause.
Despite the opening night loss, Life Center has a strong team this year. Colleen Daly, a starting senior guard, was one of the team leaders in scoring last year with a 9.0 average. Brown also popped for 9 points a game last season.
Danielle Mckenna, a senior who plays forward, is also a starter with a lot of talent.
Life Center’s other starting forward is freshman Sarah Cintron. Coach Pace likes the way Cintron is coming along as a player. In her short time with the team, she has already exhibited an accurate shooting touch.
The Warriors have another talented junior forward in Kristina McRae, who recently "popped out" her shoulder. When McRae comes back from her injury she has enough talent to compete for a starting position.
6-foot-1 Shanna Fannon is a multi-talented junior center. Katie Hall is a skilled senior guard. Jessica Keane (a junior guard), Marissa Mohrmann (a sophomore guard), Yanishka Jean-Pierre (a sophomore forward, Sarah Lockley (a sophomore guard) and Melissa Melicharek (a freshman guard) make up the rest of the team.
While Life Center lacks size, it is a fast and very aggressive pressing team.
"We have some real heart. We’ll be very competitive," said Coach Pace.
The Warriors will look to improve from last year’s mark of 9-11. The Penn-Jersey League is a tough one but they should finish over .500.
Coach Pace has an excellent staff. Tammy Nowicki is his assistant coach and Rachel Robinson and Samrina Ely are the team managers.
The Warriors have a tough week ahead of them. Today they have a big game scheduled at Akiba. Then on Friday and Saturday they’re scheduled to compete in the Shipley School Tournament. On Tuesday, Life Center is scheduled to host Villa Victoria.
