Wildcats off to perfect start to hoops season

Every year, Shoreham-Wading River girls basketball coach Adam Lievre schedules opponents from more competitive leagues in the beginning of the season to gauge where they are as a team. Safe to say, the Wildcats are looking pretty good.

Through four games this season, the Wildcats have posted a 4-0 record, including two non-league wins against League II Sachem East and League V Hauppauge. They took care of business against a perennial basketball power in Kings Park on Monday. After beating Kings Park two years ago to win the Suffolk County championship, last year it was the Kingswomen who prevailed, knocking the Wildcats out of the semifinals. So even this early in the season, Monday’s 44-33 victory over Kings Park at Shoreham-Wading River High School means that things are looking up.

“It’s good to have a test like this early in the season,” Lievre said. “I told the girls before the game that win or lose, this is the type of game to see where we are. We want to see the good and bad and the ugly — like many of our missed layups today — but overall this is what early season basketball is all about. The season’s not over if you win, and the season isn’t over when you lose. It was the first close game we played, so it was good to see how the girls responded.”

This year’s team is led by senior guard Alyssa Bell, who emerged as a regular starter last season. Bell has always had tremendous potential and ability to score — and this season, she’ll be a key source of the Wildcats success. She’s already scored as many as 20 points in a game this season and put up 12 points on Monday.

“She’s our primary ball handler, but also we need her to score,” Lievre said. “Through the first couple games, she’s done a great job at that. She’s our only true basketball player out there. We want to let the athletes around her do their thing, using their length and their speed, and when we desperately need a score, she’s going to have the ball in her hands.”

Several Division I college lacrosse recruits fill the lineup, which will give the Wildcats a competitive defensive edge against anyone they go against. Grayce Kitchen (Louisville), Haylie Abrams (Colorado), Morgan Lesiewicz (Lehigh) and Charlotte Erb (Coastal Carolina) all give the opponents fits as they try to navigate the ball up the court. Against Kings Park, the team came away with 21 steals and forced another 17 turnovers — gaudy numbers in just 32 minutes of play.

“I think with the athleticism we have on the team, we’re going to be a tough matchup for anyone,” Bell said. “We have the ability to always control the tempo, which is a major advantage for us.”

Defense is something that a Lievre team always pride themselves on. In the second quarter, which happened to be a major turning point in the game, SWR only allowed four points and stretched the lead to as much as 15 points.

“When we start to get in our groove, our defense turns into offense,” said Kitchen, who scored nine points. “We all trust each other to be tough on defense and to make a play when we need it.”

Anabel and Kady Keegan will be major parts of the team this year. Anabel sat out all of last season with an injury, so she’s just getting back in the swing of things. Kady scored nine points and came up with four steals against Kings Park.

“Anabel hasn’t played in a basketball game in around 20 months coming into this season,” Lievre said. “By the middle of the season, she’s going to be a major force, and I look forward to seeing her get comfortable back out there.” With the intense schedule to open the season, Lievre hasn’t really been able to have a lot of practices as a full team. The winter break is coming up and it’ll grant them some time to work on what they’ve seen in their play thus far.

“We have a whole week to reevaluate,” Lievre said. “See what’s been good and what’s been not so good. We have a stretch of five games in 10 days so it will be good to take a step back. It’s a long season and so far so good. We’re going to be a work in progress but we’ll take where we are right now.”