By MICHAEL KELLY

For the Express

BROADALBIN — Monday night’s effort against Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons provided a microcosm of where the Broadalbin-Perth Lady Patriots basketball program currently resides — and, where the team needs to improve.

After posting a string of losing seasons in which the Lady Patriots rarely won a handful of games, B-P has come on strong this season and moved to 7-3 on the season after its 34-25 victory at home against ND-BG in non-league game.

Yet, the victory came mostly on the strength of the contribution of one player, Kaitlin Wood, as the rest of the Lady Patriots struggled for most of the evening.

“I think we’re halfway through the season and some of our younger kids are getting a little bit tired,” offered B-P head coach Mike Magliocca. “Thank goodness for the little bit of experience we have with Kaitlin Wood. She’s carrying our team right now; we’re struggling right now.”

Wood had 22 points and 18 rebounds, but the rest of her teammates managed just 12 points and nine rebounds in the victory.

But, while the junior needed to carry her team for most of the night, the reason for hope at B-P that this season could end as a winning one came when the team was forced to play without Wood for two minutes in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s tight game. Wood was forced to the bench with 5:42 to go in the game with four fouls and her team ahead 29-22. When she returned with 3:43 to play, the Lady Patriots had increased their lead by a point, as the undersized Lady Patriots used their quickness to force turnover after turnover from the Lady Knights during Wood’s absence.

“It was ugly,” said Magliocca, “but it’s still a victory.”

Besides Wood, B-P’s Katie Herba has eight points and four assists. ND-BG received eight points from Anna Grace Maggs and seven points from Felicia Gauthier; Paris Jarrell added 13 rebounds.

B-P (7-3, 2-3 Foothills Council) trailed at the half, 13-11, but Wood pumped in 10 of her game-high scoring tally in the first few minutes of the third quarter to lead the Lady Patriots in seizing control from ND-BG (0-8, 0-6 Big 10). Despite playing B-P earlier this season — a 43-35 victory for the Lady Patriots — the ND-BG defense could not come up with any answers for Wood.

“The strategy is to not do what we did tonight,” said ND-BG head coach Doug Holden, when asked how to stop the B-P forward.

“She’s a great player,” he added. “She’s a good set-up shooter, a great rebounder and she has a real feel for the game.”

While the B-P offense sputtered its way through 15 turnovers and 10-of-48 shooting, Holden said it was his opponent’s defense that kept the Lady Knights at bay.

“Their man-to-man defense was a lot better (than earlier in the season),” he said. “It really put us in a hole.”

While the Lady Patriots mostly played zone in the first half, the club switched to the man-to-man defense to start the third quarter.

“We went to a man to up-tempo the game a little bit more,” said Magliocca. “When we do that, Kaitlin Wood gets to her spots and Katie Herba tries to find her (on offense for open shots).”

But while relying on Wood’s scoring was enough Monday night against the winless Lady Knights, B-P knows it must continue to develop the bevy of underclassmen guards surrounding the junior forward for the club to have success in the Foothills Council — and beyond.

“Someone else has to step up and then we’ll get to that next level,” Magliocca said.