Junior hopes win brings confidence
By: Justin Feil
In the midst of her finest game of the season and one of the Stuart Country Day basketball team’s finest hours, Maya Thompson had to let someone very special know what she was missing Saturday.
So between the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter, Thompson picked up a cell phone and walked outside for a minute.
"I had to call my mom," Thompson said. "I was looking for her and I didn’t see her. Basically, I was telling her we were having a good game. I told her, ‘You have to come. The team is playing so well.’"
At that point, Thompson already had 16 points against Saddle River Day. She returned from the call to finish the fourth quarter with two more baskets for a season high of 20 points as the Tartans defeated Saddle River, 59-46, Saturday. Stuart improved to 3-8 with the win, which couldn’t have come at a better time.
"We had three cancelled that I’m pretty sure we could have won," said Stuart head coach Tom Harrington. "They were all cancelled for various reasons, for strange reasons. So it’s just our 11th game and we’re playing against teams with 20 or 21 games already. It’s hard to build any chemistry if you don’t play. You just can’t simulate that in practice. That has been our big thing. To win helps."
After three cancelled games, the Tartans were barely foaming at the mouth to return to the court. They were able to take our their frustration on Saddle River.
"We were really psyched," Thompson said. "After everything had been cancelled, and after coming off a 12-6 season last year to be 2-8, we were almost desperate. It was like why aren’t we winning? We all talked about everyone getting psyched. We haven’t been winning as much as we could be."
Thompson hasn’t had enough opportunities to call and brag about the Tartans play, though the junior forward is in the midst of another fine personal year. She’s averaging a team-high 10.1 points per game after sporting an 11.9 points per game average last season. But that’s the last thing on her mind as she tries to do her part to lead the team. Saturday was a step in the right direction.
"It’s about commitment," she said. "Wanting to be here, playing as a team and not thinking of yourself and not how you can get your name in the paper."
Like it or not, Thompson has been worthy of ink all year. She was the starting goaltender for Stuart’s Prep A champion field hockey team and she’ll be their best thrower come spring track. All she wants now is to figure out how to make the Tartans as successful on the basketball court as they were in field hockey.
"It’s completely different coming off a championship," said Thompson, a Trenton resident. "The field hockey team has come so far. Knowing that team has come so far gives you a lot of confidence that you can do it in other sports."
And Saturday’s win gives Thompson hope that the turnaround can begin now. If there was one moment when it may have begun, it was the third quarter. After Saddle River opened the second half on a 6-0 run to trim a 33-20 lead to 33-26, Thompson delivered a layup, assisted on a layup to Kathryn Kitts and hit a putback. Saddle River never got within 11 points again.
"Honestly we always do bad at the start of the third quarter," Thompson said. "Coach called time out and we got pumped back up. We just said that we’ve practiced so hard, and we said that this was our game to open up. We said it was time for a new beginning."
Another Thompson layup gave the Tartans a 45-30 lead late in the third quarter and the lead grew to 17 by the end of the third quarter to prompt Thompson’s phone call. The Tartans were able to get it going with Thompson and a host of others chipping in from the inside, while Kitts and Angela Harrington, who finished with 10 assists and 12 points, working from the outside.
"We tried to get it inside to start the game," Tom Harrington said. "We wanted to get it in to our big girls and get them going."
It was obvious from the outset that Saddle River had no answer for Thompson, who fits the power forward mold. The same arms that toss shot put and discus are capable of moving opponents easily, yet she has soft hands that help her control most any pass and give her a dangerous mid-range jump shot.
"I’ve told Maya that pound for pound, she’s one of the strongest players around here," Harrington said. "If we get it into the box, she knows what to do with it.
"We’re trying to get the girls inside going. Until we get that going, it’s hard for our team to go outside. When Angela has a great game (outside), it’s when Maya has a good game (inside). One precipitates the other."
And while she’s hoping her mom won’t have to miss any more games, Thompson is hoping there will be occasions for more calls as Stuart opens the state tournament against Pennington on Saturday.
"It helps," she said. "Not just with winning, but with our confidence too. We came in (to the season) going for a championship. Anything is possible. If we play like we did today, we can win a championship. If we get down on ourselves, we won’t be so successful."
"It’s going to help," Harrington agreed on Saturday’s win. "It’s going to give the kids some confidence. We’ve played some really decent teams, so our confidence level was down."
As a co-captain this season, Thompson is feeling more responsibility to try to promote that confidence among the younger players. It’s a role that winning in field hockey has prepared her for, and one that she can continue into her senior season.
"Being a captain means having to have more leadership on the team," she said. "I look for the younger players more, and I try to help them build confidence. I have to make them believe that we can come out with a win, that we can beat everyone on the court."
Maya Thompson only hopes that that will be enough to help the Stuart basketball team have more games like its win Saturday. Her strong play inside should help the Stuart state hopes, and increase her chances of calling her mom to let her know just how well the Tartans are playing.

