Tomsky Planning to Gobble Up Foes Next Season

Like the girls basketball team, starting center is young.

How can you tell? When asked how she planned to bulk up in the off-season, the slender 6-foot sophomore admitted:

“I said I would try to lift some weights, but I haven't really done that. I don’t know. Maybe eating more?”

When Tomsky and the Hornets take the court Saturday in the first round of the Marin County Athletic League Tournament at Terra Linda, she realizes it could be the team’s last game of the season. But it hardly will be their last game together.

That’s because the Novato roster features just two seniors.

“Our team has been playing together for a long time now,” she noted. “Since we play together in the summer, we’ll have had last summer, this season and this summer coming up to prepare for next season.

“So I think we'll be higher up in the standings.”

That’s not to say Tomsky has written of Saturday’s tournament game.

“I don't think we're going to go all the way to the championship,” she admitted of the ninth-seeded Hornets, who went 1-13 in the regular season. “But I would think we have a good chance of winning (against Terra Linda).”

Win or lose, the game won’t be Tomsky’s last of the school year. She plans to try out for a North Bay AAU team in the spring, hoping to further develop her moves around the hoop.

No doubt, the strength of Tomsky’s game this season has been shot-blocking. She believes that comes from playing volleyball for the Hornets as well.

“Volleyball prepared me jumping-wise and it helps your hand-ball coordination,” she said. “It's really just timing. You have to have good timing in both sports.”

What she can’t learn from volleyball, she tries to absorb by watching her favorite player, Dwight Howard of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.

“He's really good on the inside and he's really good at blocking shots,” Tomsky observed. “My favorite thing is blocking shots.”

Novato coach says Tomsky “can be dominating presence in the middle with her shot-blocking.” It was a whole different ballgame last season, the 15-year-old notes, as one of the Hornets’ guards.

“I like shooting outside more,” she admitted. “It's been hard to post up because I'm not used to all the contact. I have to get used to being more physical and not let people push me around.”

And therein lies one of the key differences between basketball and volleyball. When someone spikes one in your face in volleyball, you can’t do much other than stand there and hope the ball comes back to you on the next point.

In basketball, on the other hand …

“I love the running. It helps you get the anger out,” she claimed. “If someone pushes you around, you can run down the court and block their shot or steal the ball. That’s fun.”

It promises to be even more fun next year after she’s “bulked up.” Let the eating begin.

MCAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

First Round, Saturday

GIRLS

Novato at Terra Linda, 5:30 p.m.

San Rafael at Drake, 7:30 p.m.

BOYS

Novato at Justin-Siena, 7:30 p.m.

Tam at Terra Linda, 7:30 p.m.