Maidens look to improve

RONAN - The Maidens' scoring woes continued this weekend, but

there's definitely a foundation that Ronan is building.

RONAN - The Maidens' scoring woes continued this weekend, but there's definitely a foundation that Ronan is building.

With youth, it's tough right now gaining consistency but the team is learning.

"Everything right now is fixable," head coach Doug Fisher said. "It's not that we don't have talent. It's not that we don't have the work ethic. I have plenty of girls that come into practice and work hard."

The Maidens went 0-2 over the weekend, but Fisher said he's liked what he's seen on the defensive side of the floor.

"Defensively we're playing well enough to win," Fisher said.

However, ball control and rebounding were a struggle against Hamilton and St. Ignatius this weekend.

Against the Lady Broncs on Friday, the girls were hamstrung by a 26-2 breakout by Hamilton in the first quarter. After that, the defense by the Maidens was solid as they held the Lady Broncs to six, four and seven points in the remaining quarters of the game.

"Our defense has improved a great deal once we started to settle in our defensive scheme," Fisher said.

However, the offense just wasn't there for Ronan and they fell 43-11.

"We didn't play out basketball this weekend," Fisher said.

"We turned over the ball to many times and struggled rebounding."

Guard Mariah Cheff led the team with five boards. It showed all heart from the 5'3" guard. However Fisher said he would like to see a more solid contribution from his entire team on the glass.

"I tell the girls that when a shot goes up it's a pass to you," Fisher said.

Ronan did get Alice Van Gunten back from travel and she should shore up some things for the Maidens.

"She's a scorer and she's tough inside for us," Fisher said.

While not up to game shape just yet, she did lead the Maidens with six points.

Against Mission on Saturday, the Maidens jumped out to a 12-10 lead after the first quarter before the offensive woes hit again. They would score just 14 points for the rest of the game.

Senior Alice Van Gunten, junior Ashley Grandchamp and senior Tailyr Irvine all had seven points in the game for the Maidens.

The Lady Bulldogs would win the game 43-26, but were held to just one point by the Maidens' defense in the fourth quarter.

After their contest with Frenchtown on Tuesday, the Maidens will use the break to improve parts of their game

"I like the break as a coach, I think it will do some good," Fisher said. "It gives us plenty of time to work on some things."