Pink Whistle: Fordham WBB Scrimmage

Ray with Abigail Corning, the former Fordham player turned director of basketball operations. (Photo by Ray Floriani/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

BRONX, NY -- Early Sunday morning and the Cross-Bronx Expressway is cooperating. Take that and run with it.

WAXQ’s “Breakfast with the Beatles” and host Ken Dashow took me “Here, There and Everywhere,” with a stop at “Penny Lane.” On tap was an assignment at Fordham, this one necessitating a notebook, camera and officiating gear.

The Fordham women had an intrasquad scrimmage set for 10 a.m. Coach Stephanie Gaitley has seen yours truly officiate and allowed me to have the honor on this day. Though my experience is mostly high school, AAU and travel basketball, I did officiate a Seton Hall intrasquad scrimmage once during Phyllis Mangina’s time in South Orange, and it went very well.

I arrived at about 9 a.m., and by 9:20, early arrivals from the women’s team are making their way to Fordham Prep. I tell them I am officiating their scrimmage and they are happy to hear that, with one jokingly saying, “please don’t call any fouls on me.” We are using the prep gym at the south end of campus, as Rose Hill Gym is being used for an open house.

Getting settled, I notice the gym is named after Donnie Walsh, a well-known figure in New York and NBA circles, then talk a bit with Lauren Holden. The junior guard is out with a foot injury. In fact, also missing the scrimmage were Mary Goulding (knee injury) and G’mrice Davis due to a family issue. Holden said she looked at Rider and Yale in her recruitment. “I didn’t want to go Ivy League,” she said. “At Rider, I could have played with Julia Duggan, who I went up against in (Lower Cape May, NJ) high school. Fordham really was my main interest.”

Director of player development Samantha Clark, a former Ram standout, is the first on staff to enter. She introduced herself and I laughed, reminded of the numerous games she played that I covered. Clark oversaw stretching and warmup exercises. Before the scrimmage, there was a succession of 3-5 minute drills; full court dribbling and passing ending in layups on one end, and jumpers on the other. Free throws and a few half court sets are run at both ends. By the time the drills had begun, Gaitley and her staff were present. The drills provide a good method of getting the players ready to scrimmage at 10:30.

My partner had not yet arrived. Gaitley asked if I could start the scrimmage alone, which I agree to. We were going four ten-minute quarters, a regulation college game. The women were facing a scout team of former high school boys players. To round them out, director of basketball operations Abigail Corning; a good player during her recent days at Rose Hill, joins the scouts.

Working alone, I work C-to-C, as you would in a three-man officiating crew. Basically, you cover foul line to foul line and step down for baseline penetrations. A three-person crew will miss things. As one person, you will miss too, but just work as hard as you can.

Early on, both teams were pushing the ball and attempting threes. As the quarter moved on, Gaitley had her Fordham team looking to break, but settling in half court opportunities if transition did not materialize. Force of high school habit had me ten-second counting in the backcourt, which I had to remind myself to stop. At the end of the quarter, I grabbed some Powerade and mentioned to Frank Gaitley, Stephanie’s husband, how clean the guard-to-guard play is. Hand checking is virtually non-existent. At the end of the first quarter, associate head coach Angelika Szumilo asks about a Euro penetration, as a player penetrating from an angle went to the basket and drew a foul as the defender moved her hip into the offensive player. My explanation was if the defense is totally stationary, there is no foul. She thought as much, but added a lot of officials will call it on the defense because there is a bump and the offense is displaced.

A change of lead in the first quarter saw Fordham establish a second-quarter lead it would not relinquish. Numbers 11 and 14 have size and had their moments down low. While the scout team is willing to attack the basket, the overall balance of the Rams took over. As the half ended, Abigail Corning patted me on the back, as if to say “good work.” Samantha Clark said halftime was three minutes, and time for me to replenish with more Powerade and jot a few notes in my notebook. Coach Gaitley informed me my partner had a location mixup and would soon be here. Early in the third period, he arrived. His name is Joe Cruz. His work is primarily in New York, and from the earliest possessions together, we were on the same page.

With a two-man officiating game, the coverage improved. On the lead, I can focus mainly on post play rather than trying to split vision as a crew of one. Working the game, I am always concentrating. In high school and travel games, I can pick up what coaches are saying to their teams. On this day, I knew Gaitley emphasized fundamentals and things such as getting back on defense, especially in the first half. I didn’t really notice too much of what she said, as my level of concentration was at a very high level for this competition.

The second half was very smooth and we finished up strong, hustling through the final possession. Joe and I both said we hoped to work again with each other. Gaitley commended our work. She also reiterated with a few key players out, the scrimmage still gave a great opportunity to get a further read on newcomers and returnees working their way into rotation.

A few final observations:

- Coaches and players got a laugh out of hearing my recent basketball assignment was third grade at Hoop Heaven. They know on that level, anything can and usually does happen. The kids can be all over and push the ball with no rhyme or reason, to which one assistant said, “some college teams do that too.”

- When you work a grade-school level game alone, there will be complaints when you miss something. Here, there were none, as the players realize you are one person running hard getting in best possible position, but you are human and will miss a few calls. The toughest part in this one working alone was officiating the baseline drives, which are difficult given defenders’ size and your angle.

- On this level, it is nice to commend a player for a good play. The lower levels may construe that as favoritism, but a few times heading down court after she hit a three, I let Abigail Corning know when she made a good shot. Opening the third quarter inbounding the ball to Fordham’s No. 10, I let her know she was doing a nice job hustling and keeping up the good effort. Again, as an official, it is a plus, as the players appreciate it too.

- These are Division I players, so we let them play aggressive and battle one-on-one in the post. If a player posted up looking for a pass and the defense put a hand on her, we called it. “I’m glad you officiated the post that way,” Gaitley said. ‘That hand on the back gets called during the regular season, so I want them to get used to that and not pick up that foul when it counts.” Needless to say, their skill set and body control is outstanding compared to what you would see even on the high school level. On another point, they do not attempt what they cannot physically do, even though some of their coaches may disagree with that point.

- As noted, hand checking was not too prevalent. Screens were set well and having covered Fordham many times last season, I could pick up how they ran their 1-2-2 offense, which was a bit different minus G’mrice Davis setting up on the blocks.

In the final analysis, it was just a great experience of being on the floor watching the teamwork up close on both ends of the floor. It was made even more memorable when coaches and players personally came up to say thank you for our work on the court.