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Marauders see room to improve
By Gordie Jones, Correspondent
You might think a 26-point victory -- and a game in which the winning team forced 33 turnovers -- would be enough to please any basketball coach.
You would be very wrong, in the case of Millersville women's boss Mary Fleig.
"You don't want to know my general thoughts," she told a visitor Saturday afternoon, after her team drubbed Mansfield 75-49 in Pucillo Gym.
Uh, actually, we sorta do.
She offered only a few. Something about a lack of focus and intensity. Something about a lack of heart and hustle.
"That wasn't our team out there," she said.
She hopes to locate it in time for Wednesday's visit to Bloomsburg, because the Marauders (10-5 Pennsylvania Conference East, 13-6 overall) find themselves in a second-place tie with Shippensburg in their division, a game back of the Huskies (11-4, 15-4).
She did allow that the second half was "nice to see." That's when MU outscored Mansfield 41-25 to put the game away. And presumably there was some solace to be found in the fact that the Marauders qualified for the expanded PSAC playoffs.
But that was about it.
"She was kind of disappointed this morning at walk-through," said senior point guard Mashira Newman, who fashioned a 14-point, 10-assist, eight-rebound, four-steal stat line. "That showed through walk-through and the first half. Some of us weren't focused."
Aurielle Mosley also scored 14 points for MU, which turned those 33 Mansfield turnovers into 35 points. And when the Mounties cut a 17-point first-half deficit to seven early in the second half, at 34-27, Newman sparked a 15-0 run by scoring inside and then going coast to coast for a layup, after collecting a loose ball. Just like that the Marauders were home-free, at 49-27.
"The team basically keys on me," Newman said. "I try to have as much energy as I possibly can on defense, so the team can feed off of me."
More is needed in the week (and weeks) ahead -- from her, and everyone else.
"I expect a level of intensity there at practice, starting Monday," Fleig said. "I do have a high level of expectation." n
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