It didn’t take long for Shepard to assert itself against Argo on Thursday night.
It was 4-0 after 45 seconds and 10-0 before 150 seconds had been played.
Naturally, Jessica Manley was right in the middle of it. The 5-foot-8 junior scored the second, fourth and fifth baskets, the first six points of her 23-point outburst in the Astros’ 56-25 win over the visiting Argonauts.
Manley had scored 19 points in a 51-27 romp over Tinley Park the night before, but neither she nor her teammates were anything close to out of breath. In moving to 12-6 overall and 7-1 in the South Suburban Red, the Astros showed they have the tools to capture a second straight conference title. Last year’s was the first in team history.
“It’s not difficult for them to get after it two days in a row,” coach Rick Gamino said. “This is a group that plays together. We’re a senior-led team, but Jessica’s a junior that’s been on the team for three years now and understands what’s going on. When they get it, play together and have fun, we’ve got something really special.”
Manley added three rebounds, two steals and two blocks to go with her 23 points, and did it all in about 20 minutes. She and her fellow starters, including Bri Spain (eight points, six rebounds), had the final quarter off as a reward.
“In my 17-18 years coaching girls basketball, she’s at the top,” Camino said of Manley, who recently topped the 1,000-point mark. “She continues to work and is getting better on her defense. She’s pretty good at letting the game come to her.”
Against the Argonauts, she scored her first basket off a turnover, scored her second after blocking an Argo shot and made her third via Jamaia Thompson’s assist. After a pair of free throws a minute later, Manley had scored eight of Shepard’s first 12 points.
“I try to make sure I’m connected with my teammates,” Manley said. “Make sure I keep them in the right head space and they keep me in the right head space, make sure I don’t get taken off my game.
“Not communicating about how you feel makes it difficult.”
The lines of communication were wide-open against the Argonauts (11-10, 2-5), who were led by Alizza Quinones with six points, hit from the lane with 10 seconds left in the quarter.
The back-to-back wins, and a 6-2 record in the last eight games, have Manley optimistic about what’s to come.
“We can get real good,” said Manley, who has her immediate sight set on another South Suburban Red title.
Gamino, knowing the Astros’ Class 4A sectional bracket is a minefield, doesn’t want his players to rest on their laurels.
“We have to continue to learn how to deal with adversity,” he said. “Repeating as conference champions is definitely a goal, and we’ve put in these girls minds of playing for a regional championship, which in 4A is no easy task. But this is a special group and we should have our eyes set on that as a possibility.”