Senior Night a Delight for Rays

Senior night could not have gone much better as the Marco Island Academy girls’ basketball team evened their record to 8-8, thumping winless Cypress Lake (0-16) 46-15, Friday night in the Rays’ home gym.

Both teams had trouble finding the basket in the first half, with the Rays holding a 15-10 halftime lead. But things changed quickly in the second half.

“The girls played a little tight in the first half,” said Travis Barry, MIA head coach, “then they came together in the third quarter. We’ve been working on a press and the other team couldn’t get through our press. It was kind of a close game in the first half, but as soon as we pressed, everything changed.”

The Rays scored 23 points in the third quarter, holding the Panthers to a single point - and the route was on.

Senior Jocelyn Snover led the way in the third quarter, hitting a pair of three pointers and making two of three free throws after being fouled while shooting another three. She ended up leading the Rays with 17 points. Barry will miss Jocelyn and her twin sister Cadence Snover, who have been with him for three seasons.

“They came in as sophomores,” Barry said. "They were just cheerleading. The Sweeneys (Megan and Bridget) came on and they were friends, so they decided they wanted to play, too. I’m glad they did. They knew how to dribble, but they wouldn’t. I had to get them to have the confidence to dribble. The first year they would catch and pass, but not do much else. Then they worked a lot over the summers to where one of them is one of my guards now.”

Barry is proud of how his team has progressed over the course of the season.

"I feel really positive about the season so far,” he said. "I think the girls are getting better every game. And I think we’ve just gained some more confidence tonight. They're a great group of girls. They’re already asking if they can go on an airboat ride or have a party at the end. They just like to be around each other. They like to do things together.”

Barry sees a bright future given the improvement of his sophomores.

“Our sophomores are getting better every game,” he said. "We have four sophomores: Katelin and Emily Reisinger and Piper Noyes and Eva Tobiason. Every game they’re getting more experience and getting better.

“I was very happy with the Reisinger girls making drives to the bucket. Finding some confidence. They’re doing it in practice. Now I’m starting to see it in the game a little bit. In practice sometimes our starters have trouble getting rebounds from them. The Reisinger’s - I can always rely on them. Every practice, they’re always there. They’re always early and they stay till the end. They like to play. It’s great."

MIA was scheduled to play at Donahue Academy on Tuesday. Though they come in as the lower seed, the MIA girls won a thrilling 59-52 double-overtime thriller back in December.

“If we win there, we play in Everglades City on Thursday,” Barry said. "They have three senior girls. We beat them once by 20 this year. But it wasn’t one of the conference games, it was an extra game. So, we know we can play with them. We also beat Donahue in a double overtime game. We could go and steal one at Donahue and go back and steal one at Everglades City. That would be a good ending."