Young McCann Tech Girls Working Hard, Improving
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But that's not where McCann coach Mike Dowling would rather you look at his players.
"They're all red-faced, sweating and tired -- whether we won by four against Lenox or lost by 20 against Holyoke Catholic," Dowling said. "That's the way this team has to go to build.
"And as far as I can see so far, I think we're on a good path. We've got a nice little JV program here coming up. I've got four sophomores on the varsity, and probably three of them could start."
What Dowling does not have is a single senior on this year's roster, which is a good sign for the future.
Another good sign, the way the Hornets (5-11) hustled to the end on Wednesday night.
Holyoke Catholic (10-3) started the fourth quarter with a 39-13 lead and started pulling its starters a couple of minutes into the quarter.
But McCann battled against a level of competition that Dowling said is a little more suited to where the Hornets are right now -- closing the gap with a 17-11 quarter that featured nine points from Allie Gibeau.
Gibeau scored a team-high 13 points for McCann.
Holyoke Catholic's Kyra Robins scored 18 to lead her team to a Western Mass tournament-clinching win.
McCann is probably a year away from making a serious bid for the tournament, but Dowling is encouraged.
"The game last week against Lenox, we were behind, 14-1, and came back and won," he said.
"It's tough for my team to compete against a senior-laden team [like Holyoke Catholic], but I think they're improving as we go.
"Patience. ... We've still got one big game in our league against Cathedral, who beat us [36-27] the last time."
McCann goes to Ware on Thursday night. It hosts Cathedral on Monday.