Bolingbrook girls basketball coach Tony Smith didn't want to open the season on Saturday playing Ben Davis -- a nationally ranked program from Indianapolis -- so Bolingbrook scheduled Tuesday night's season opener against Morgan Park of the Chicago Public League.
The 98-49 rout of Morgan Park in Bolingbrook served its purpose, which Smith said was giving him some teaching points this week as the Raiders prepare to play Ben Davis in the Blue Star Basketball Country Classic.
"I knew that first games are always rough games," Smith said. "Having just two weeks to prepare for a game is tough. Now I have proof to bring it back to practice and show them this is what we really need to do instead of saying this is what we need to do. Now I have proof to show them these are the things we need to work hard on and do."
The pressure defense was there. The quick offense off the at least two dozen forced turnovers (I didn't keep an accurate tally) was there. The hustle and the effort was there.
What's missing is a bit of refinement. Bolingbrook had its share of turnovers and didn't run many offensive sets, according to Smith.
"We are a long ways away," Smith said. "We have three days to get back to work and we're going to see how bad we want to be a great team coming up on Saturday because there are a lot of things we need to do. Unfortunately I didn't do a good enough job the first two weeks. Hopefully I can do a better job these next three days to get us going."
Sophomore guard Ariel Massengale led five Raiders in double figures with 22 points. Massengale, who converted five steals directly into fastbreak baskets, scored all 22 of those points in the first half.
Senior Satavia Taylor scored 18 points. Freshman Morgan Tuck made her varsity debut with 16 points, getting 10 of them in the first half. Junior Nicosia Henry also had 16 points and sophomore center Marissa Taylor added 10 second-half points to go with three blocked shots.
What does he mean they are not ready. Tony Smith has been having the girls practice on Sunday and during the weekday since September. He was calling them open gyms, but instruction was taking place. He an Mike Henry were teaching the girls defense, running drills and teaching plays.