Practice OK'ed for Wednesday!!!

Hi Girls,

Practice will be at 3:00pm until 4:30pm Wednesday Dec 29th. Please try to be there if possible.


Coach May

Practice Canceled!!!

Hi Girls,

Teresa Long just informed me that Mr. Wiggs has canceled all practices for Monday and Tuesday even on a voluntary basis. Wednesday will be decided on later in the week.

Call your friends and spread the word. We will most likely try to practice on Sunday Jan 2, 2011 due to the lack of practice time before our first conference game.

I have requested the Sunday Jan 2, 2011 time slot of 5:00pm to 6:30pm for practice.

****I was told, Definitely no practice Monday or Tuesday of this week.****

We need to work on some ideas that could give us some advantages if we can do them for the conference season plus tighten up some of our other offensive and defensive packages we use. It is hard to get better without practice time.

Hope you girls saw your team picture in the Daily Herald, Friday edition(back page) accepting the Christmas Tournament Trophy. Nice!


Coach May

Monday Dec. 27, 2010 Practice.

Hi Girls,

I understand the roads are not great. I will be at the Gym today for Practice at 3:00pm to 4:30pm. If your parents are worried about the roads you can not come. Most of the main roads are passable since I just got in from town.

Because of Exams and Christmas we have only practiced a few times since Dec 9th. We need to have this week to get back into touch with our skills. Since Dec. 9th we have only practiced 3 times and played two games. That is not enough practice time to be at the top of our game.

We return to school on Jan 3rd, 2011 and go to watch UNC practice. You have make up exams on the 4th so we will not practice, exams on the 5th and we play NEA that night. We then have one day of practice on Thursday to get ready for our first conference game vs. Kerr Vance.

Needless to say if we want to give ourselves our best chance in the conference we need some practice time.

Thought: Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail. John Wooden UCLA

I will be at practice today, if you can get there please try to be there with me. The other practices are on the blog under holiday practice schedule.


Coach May

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Girls,

Hope you all have a Great Christmas. Remember the reason for gifts is from the gifts that the Three Wise Men brought to the Baby Jesus. We give gifts to the one's we love in honor of Christ our Lord.


Coach May

PS- Enjoy the Snow, I will post tomorrow about Monday practice after we see what the roads are like at that point in time.

Championship #1.

Hi Girls,

***No practice on Wednesday, Next Practice Thursday Dec 23rd at 3:00 to 4:30pm.***

It was a tough job but we managed to defend our title as JV Christmas Tournament Champions for the 4th year running. I know you girls that have played with me the last 3 years now have won 3 in a row.

To me, I think this was the most gratifying Christmas Tournament win because we faced so much adversity in this tournament. With no practice time basically coming into the tournament because of exams and snow etc. We had to play a really tough team in the first round in Brunswick and it took alot of energy. Then to come back after being down at halftime in the championship game and in deep foul trouble to win and to do it with Lindsey and Mer fouled out for the entire 4th quarter and Jamie and Emily playing with 4 fouls each was really something. It took heart and knowing how to win.

The reason I titled this blog Championship #1 is simply we want to add two more to it. Regular season EPIC Champions and then EPIC Tournament Champions. This was a good start.

Final Score: Halifax Academy JV Viking Girls 31- Faith Christian 25 BTW: They scored the last 5 points of the game when we were not really guarding them since we did not want to foul and there was only seconds on the clock.

Scoring by Qtrs: 1st: 7-2 2nd: 2-11 3rd: 11-2 4th: 11-10

HA Scoring: Em 8, Alex 7, Lindsey 6, Kelly 6, Jamie 4.

FCA Scoring: #11 Mary Peyton Fisher 15, #4 Stephanie Stallings 4 pts, #12 Carrie Lewis 4, #30 Bailey Parks 2.

FG%: Team 12/51 23.5%; Em 3/11, Lindsey 3/12, Kelly 3/13, Alex 3/13, MeganK 0/1, Mer 0/1, Jamie 0/8. 33.3% is the minimum winning %. Just by shear will and toughness were we able to win shooting this poorly.

3Pt%: Lindsey 0/1, Alex 0/1.

FT %: Team 7/14 50%; Jamie 4/6***, Alex 1/2**, Em 2/6 50% is the minimum winning %.

FCA FT%: 9/19-47.4%; #11- 4/8, #4- 2/4, #12 -2/5, #5-0/2

Rebounds: Team 7off/14Def; Em 2/6****, Alex 1/5**, Jamie 4/1**, Kelly 3/2**, Mer 0/4**, Lindsey 2/2**
Jordan 0/1*.

Assists: Team 9; Lindsey 5****, Jamie 2**, Alex 2**.

Steals: Team 15; Mer 5****, Jamie 4****, Lindsey 2**, Kelly 2**, Em 1* Jordan 1*.

Blocks: Kelly 1**.

Layups: 9/38-23.7%. Outside shots: 3/13-23.1%. 3pt shots: 0/2-0%. Foul Shots 7/14-50%. We can do alot better especially on the lay ups.

Some Thoughts: It was an ugly win but we played with a great amount of heart and effort and that is the most important thing. An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss. I personally thought we got almost zero of a fair break on the officiating, maybe I am biased but if we had not tried to run some clock we might have fouled all the starters out.

Bottom line if we make half of our missed layups we win this thing by 20. We will continue to address that in practice and I think once we get back into shape and having consistent practice time we will take a large step forward in that respect.

There is almost too many to mention for their efforts but I will give it a try. Mer with 5 steals, tough D and 4 Rebs in very limited playing time due to foul trouble. Emily 8 points, making them when her team needed them the most, 2 clutch foul shots and a huge 8 rebounds. Jamie great team leadership, great Defense on #4, 4 steals, Great play down the stretch in a new position making plays and foul shots to seal the win. Alex clutch outside shooting, her shooting is really coming on, a hard fought 6 rebounds and when the chips were on the table a very respectable job of dribbling when we needed her the most. Lindsey, maybe her best game of the year, she played hard on Defense gave us great leadership at the PG and had 5 assists. Kelly, playing super tough when the game was on the line. Defended the basket, making clutch shots out of the 4 corners with the chips on the table and being strong under the goal and on the boards, way to step up. Jordan, stepping in and playing tough to buy us some time and hustling and fighting to make a steal. Megan, Playing in a tremendous pressure situation in a new spot and holding your own. To all of you I give you a Giant Star and my upmost respect.

If there was an Tournament MVP for the two nights I would pick Jamie hands down. If we got to choose up the starting 5 and top reserve I would take my starters and Kelly. Be proud of yourselves, your coach is proud of you. It is time to take it to another level. Next Practice Thursday 3:00pm to 4:30pm. Try to be there since it is the last practice before Christmas. I have your T-Shirts and Hoodies and I will bring them Thursday.

Play Hard A+, Play Smart A-, Play Together A+. Team Record: 7 and 1.


***Remember No practice on Wednesday, get some shopping done. Next Practice Thursday 3:00 to 4:30pm.


T/O's: Team 12; Jamie 3, Mer 2, Lindsey 2, Em 1, Alex 1, Kelly 1. We should always expect the girls that handle the ball the most to most likely make the most turnovers. If we have big girls making lots of turnovers when handling the ball very little we would have a serious problem.

Coach May

JV Girls Championship Game 6:30 PM Tuesday

Hi Girls,

A nice win tonight against a tough Brunswick Academy team. They were certainly about as physical as any team I can remember in awhile and very challenging. Final Score: Halifax 38 Brunswick 25.

I will post more in a little while. Be at the Gym and ready to play by 6:00pm. We will wear white.

Scoring by Qtrs: 1st- 11 to 6 2nd- 7 to 3 3rd- 4 to 8 4th- 16 to 9

Scoring Totals: Halifax; Jamie 22, Mer 9, Em 4, Alex 2, Kelly 1

Scoring Totals Brunswick: #12 Jessica Rivas 13, #20 Elise Walton 7, #34 Dani Wright 4,
#21 Amanda Roberts 1.

FG%: Team 15/43 34.9%, Jamie 8/16***, Mer 4/8***, Em 2/5*, Alex 1/5, Kelly 0/5, Lindsey 0/4.

FT%: Team 8/38 21%; Jamie 6/17, Mer 1/7, Kelly 1/10, Lindsey 0/3.

Rebounds: Team 6off/13Def.; Mer 3/3, Alex 0/6, Kelly 2/3, Jamie 1/1.

Assists: Team 8; Mer 3, Lindsey 2, Jamie 2, Alex 1.

Turnovers: 4; Em 1, Jamie 1, Lindsey 1, Kelly 1.

Steals: Team 13; Jamie 5, Lindsey 3, Alex 2, Mer 2, Em 1.

3Pt shots: Kim 0/1.


Some thoughts: It was a great game by the starters. They ran a very difficult press that I had never seen. It was amazing we only made 4 turnovers. I thought Jamie and Mer both had very good games and Alex getting 6 rebounds really helped. It was as always a team effort and our defense is basically what won this game for us with a big assist from our 4 corners game and alot of effort by the five starters and the top subs.

Some other interesting stat facts were we made all our field goals on lay ups (15), we also missed 22 lay ups. So that was 15/37 in layups. We missed 30 fouls shots out of 38 attempts. Obviously some of the foul shots were the front ends of one and one's so between the lay ups and the foul shots we left 74+ points out there for the taking.

I know it would not have worked out that way and 100% would have been an unreal percentage but 74 points we missed + 38 we made, would have been 112 points. Probably some kind of a JV National Record if we had done it. Being a little out of shape due to the long lay off due to exams and snow no doubt hurt us plus the aggressive nature of the game and lack of practice time. I was proud of how my team refused to fold to their pressure and the physical play. We have the makings of a really special team, we just need to close the gap on a few problem areas and continue to do the things we do well even better.

Enjoy this Victory until you wake up and then focus on Faith Christian. They are good enough to take our Trophy away from us. We need to make sure we are ready to play our best and play hard. Get some rest, drink some fluids and eat well. Be at the gym and ready to play by 6:00pm.

Grades: Play Hard A+, Play Smart A-, Play Together A. Good game! Let's finish what we started!

Thought: To the Victor's go the spoils.


Coach May

Practice Sunday 5:00 to 7:00pm

Hi Girls,

We have practice for the JV Christmas Tournament tonight starting at 5:00pm until 7:00pm. Most of you have not practiced since we last played on the 10th at Village Christian. We had 7 girls at practice on Friday.

You all need to try to attend practice tonight.


Coach May

Friday Dec. 17th Practice as scheduled

Hi Girls,

The roads SHOULD be clear this afternoon. We will practice from 4:00 to 5:30 as set by Coach Herman. We do have the JV Christmas Tournament starting Monday and have not practiced in a week due to exams. If your parents have concerns about driving I will excuse you from practice if necessary. I will be at the gym a little before 4:00pm.


Bland

Shooting Form, Passing and dribbling.

Hi Girls,

***You need to read this and take it to heart but wait until after you do well in all your exams. School is still more important than basktball.***

The Old Saying: God, Family, Education and Basketball in that order.

Since you are all right handed this season I will not have to talk in terms of how to reverse this for a left handed player.

Shooting Form and Thoughts:

The basic thought used at the Carolina Basketball Camps for shooting is BEEF.

B= Balance. You should always be in good balance, shoulders over the balls of your feet, butt stuck out slightly to create an athletic and balanced stance. Your right foot closer to the goal than your left. (This is for right Handed shooters, left reverse it)

E= Eyes. Your eyes should focus on the front of the rim. Some teachers are now saying look at the back middle of the rim. You can take which one works the best for you. I personally look at the front and try to visualize the flight of the ball swishing thru the net in my mind. I never stop looking at the rim, and do not follow the ball with my eyes. Also, do make the effort to hold your head steady. If it is swaying it is going to make the shot go off line.

E= Elbow. Your right elbow should be underneath the ball. If the elbow is not inline with the shoulder and the ball it will cause a sidespin release, an untrue rotation and the possibility of applying a side force to the ball on the extension thru the shot that could push it off line.

F= Follow Thru. The full extension of the arm underneath the ball and the full release of the wrists. Called the Fish Hook look. Concentrate of holding the follow thru at the top for an instance once the ball has left your hand to reinforce the focus on finishing the shot. Do not forget it is truly a one handed shot, the left hand is just there to balance the ball and when the ball leaves your hands the only thing still touching the ball is your shooting hand.

Other Thoughts:

Up and over: The best thought I can think of on the feeling of shooting the ball properly with the proper motion is up and over. The proper shooting motion is more of an up and over motion than a push at the goal with your right forearm. Think in terms of extending your arm upwards instead of out pushing the ball. The up and over motion would be similar to having a board in the way that you had to extend your arm upwards to reach far enough to get your hand over it so you could release the ball with your wrist. This motion creates what is called the Fish hook look. I see lots of girls that are trying to throw the ball at the basket with their forearm and no real release of the hands. This is not a good way to shoot. The proper release is a flip not a push.

Shoulders square: Always try to keep your shoulders square to the basket. When shooting a foul shot, imagine your shoulders square to the foul line.

Knees: To be a great shooter you have to use your knees. Have a little bounce in your knees to give you rythmn and fluidness and power.

On Foul Shooting: All of the above, plus make sure you line up exactly on the same spot everytime. I mean to really focus on being exact! Focus on exactly where you place your right big toe. Your left foot should be back off the line a little at a spot you are comfortable with and balanced. Bend forward from the waist with your backend poked out slightly for balance and B.E.E.F. it with an up and over and through the nets. I like to think in terms of my right big toe being dead on line with the absolute center of the basket and as close to the line as possible but absolutely not touching the line.

Routine: The Carolina Coaches all insist that players have a consistent foul shooting routine. If you like to bounce the ball 3 times then shoot, make sure you do it the same way everytime. The routine is your comfort zone, it signals your body to relax and do it just like you do in practice over and over. Using it gives you the chance to put yourself in the zone. If ever interrupted while in your routine by the official or a violation, start your routine over from the beginning. Take a step back then start over from scratch. Players are allowed 10 seconds to shoot once they are handed the ball. However if it is an official interuption such as the buzzer accidentally went off while on the line, a violation etc. you will get another 10 second count. You also will hear me hollering to reset, thats short for starting over. Decide what your routine is going to be and stick with it. Having a consistent routine will make you a better foul shooter. BTW, the reason I hate the game Knock Out is there is no routine like you would use in a real game. If you are going to practice, lets do it the right way and lets do it in a way that will make you a better player. Remember Perfect Practice vs. just practice.

Proper hand positions on the ball: Place the ball in the right hand not in the finger tips and not in the palm but on the pads of the right hand with a little air space underneath the ball. Fingers wide but not super stretched. Ball balanced. The left hand should be under the halfway circumference of the ball and should work only to balance the ball for the right hand to shoot it. If you shoot and push with both hands the left hand is going to push the ball off line on most shots. Rick Pitino Coach at Louisville and known as a great shooting coach teaches his players to have their thumbs form a T. Put your right hand on the ball and balance the ball in one hand then put your left hand on the ball so that your right thumb and your left thumb form a T on the back of the ball. On my hand the T slightly touches but for girls with smaller hands if could be some separation but not so much that it allows the left hand to not be underneath the midway point on the ball. Remember, the left hand is there for support and to balance the ball, not to apply any force. I have a shooters ball with the finger marks on and I will try to bring to to practice over Christmas for you to look at.

Perfect Rotation: You can usually tell if a player has good form by the rotation of the ball. If it leaves the shooting hand and rotates in a true reverse spin rotation(no side spin) It has been released properly as far as a one handed shot goes. How fast it spins is not a real factor, just make sure it spins true.

The Old Days: Back in the 60's girls all shot set shots (similar to foul shots with no hop or jump) they also shot with two hands pushing the ball very similar to making a two handed chest pass at the basket. Today girls and boys all shoot alike as the game has become more athletic and the old set shot took a second longer to get the ball away and was more prone to being blocked since it was released from a lower point. I will say one positive thing for the girls back then is most of them could really shoot. I think it was easier to do and required less technique and strenght. Unfortunately I have not run across a great many coaches that are really good shooting coaches in the lower school levels when shooting should be taught. That is why I keep telling you girls to take the time to learn to do it right and do so now. Bad habits are extremely hard to overcome.

Jump Shot vs. Push Shot: A true jump shot involves taking one step and jumping straight up in the air ideally to the top your jumping ability and releasing the ball at or just before the top of your jump to make it more difficult to block. Most players cannot shoot as well jumping to their top vertical leap as they can not jumping quite as high. You have to determine the spot you are most comfortable with on your jump and can make the most shots. Most players do not shoot a true jump shot. If you do not take the step and just hop without the step to shoot it is technically called a push shot but all the other things about proper shooting form still apply.

Mental Approach: Always, absolutely always, tell yourself you are a good shooter and you can make it. If you miss a foul shot don't degrade your self. Tell yourself , OK lets get set up just perfect just like I practice and shoot it pretty, I know I am a good shooter and this one is going in. Make yourself visulize the ball going into the basket before you shoot in your minds eye. Never take the approach of I just can't shoot. Even if you are in a little slump remain positive and work harder on the fundamentals. Having good fundamentals is your comfort zone when shots are not falling. If you think you won't make it chances are you won't.

Team Mental Approach: Never, even if joking tell your teammate they are bad shooters. In competition you can tell them You are a good shooter but I am a better shooter. But shooting is such a mental game, lets not ever talk ourselves or our teammates into missing shots. Be supportive, tell them you know they can make it.
If they need a confidence boast just say B.E.E.F., you got it.

Practice, Practice, Practice!!!! But never forget: Practice does not make Perfect, Perfect Practice makes Perfect. Make sure you do it right over and over until it becomes second nature. Great Shooters are for the most part made not born. It is a learned skill. Only by consistently doing it with the correct form and doing enough repetitions can you become a truly consistently good shooter.

On Practice: What would be good practice? Perimeter players: Try to shoot ten shots from the left corner one big step inside the 3 point line, ten from halfway up on left, ten from behind the foul line, ten from halfway down on the right and ten from the right corner. Keep up with how many you make. Then go to the foul line and shoot 10. Do it over and over. Low post players should do a similar pattern like we do sometimes in practice starting with a lay up, short bank, half way up the paint,left elbow, foul line, right elbow, halfway down, short bank and lay up. I suggest you do 5 shots from these spots and keep count. Make it your own personal competition to set a new record for yourself.

Shooting form practice: Short shots ONLY. Start at the left block, next peg up, bottom of foul circle, right peg, right block. Shoot the ball with one hand only. Try to make 10 in a row from each spot. Keep score. Track improvement. Try to make swishes. Up and over with a full release of your shooting hand. In the learning stages it is suggested to do about 300 or these shots over the course of one week. When you go to shooting longer shots remember your non shooting hand is the assist hand, it is there to balance the ball for the shooting hand, not to exert any force on the ball.

On lay ups: Make certain you focus on the top corner of the box behind the rim. Make certain you do not rush the shot. Remember the famous saying "Be Quick but don't Hurry" I think this should apply here. Most of the missed layups/put backs are caused by not focusing on the box long enough. If you turn your head toward the goal to see it go in while you are releasing the ball you will most likely shoot the ball over the basket and that easy two points will be missed. Focus on the box until the ball is gone and hits the glass, you will be able to tell if it went in because our fans will cheer, the bench will cheer and I will be yelling pick up your man on defense.

On passing: I am sure you all know how to make the different passes(Chest,Bounce, Overhead, Baseball, Hook bounce) since we have covered them all in pre-season practice. We will review them again over Christmas Break just in case. The one thought you need to take home with you and make a mental commitment to do is try to make EVERY pass you make either in practice, in a game or even just goofing around in warm ups before practice, as close to a perfect pass as you can make it. Get in the habit of having proper form, and putting the ball in exactly the right place for your teammate to catch it. Get into the habit of making perfect passes, everytime. Make it part of your focus.

Also, we need to learn not to telegraph the pass. If you look where you are passing it long enough before actually passing the ball the defense will catch on and try to steal it. Look one way and see the players with your perifial vision. Turn and pass quickly and accurately if they are open. You can also fake one way and pass another if you think that defensive player is anticipating the pass.

On Dribbling: We are woefully pitiful at dribbling the ball. Not without potential to dribble well but certainly hesitant to ever use our left hand at all in a game. We will be adding more left handed dribbling drills and dribbling drills in general immediately after the Christmas Tournament.

Girls: How well you learn these skills sets your ceiling for how good you can be not only on our JV Team but also when you get to the Varsity. Most of the time getting good at something does not happen over night. It is like osmosis it seeps into your game. Only by working on these skills consistently do you have a chance to become very good at them. We only have the court for 70 minute of practice time a day, that is not much time. You have to be willing to try and do it right everytime and to also work on it on your own. As I always say in practice if the only time you touch a ball is during basketball season for our 70 minutes per practice you are going to really limit how good you could become.

Thought: Never forget this one: The Best way to improve your Team is to improve Yourself. John Wooden, UCLA the winner of 11 National Championships.

Make a commitment to yourself to never stop striving to learn and Never stop trying to get better. If you can make 100 foul shots in a row, try to make 101.

I am on the court basically everyday before practice. If you need help with your shot or other skills or if you just have a question or want me to take a look at something just ask. The same always goes for anything that has to do with our basketball team and how we play. I am not a mind reader so if you need to know something ask. There are no bad questions, if you don't know something just find the time to ask. I prefer that you see me before practice or after practice since we run all our practices on a fairly tight planned time schedule and it is not fair to the other 13 girls to stop the group unless it is directly related to what we are working on in that time frame.

***If you are working on you shooting form, take this information and re-read it often. It will help to keep you focused. I tried to included every aspect I could think of on shooting form and I am looking for ways to add some video instruction to this page in the future. It will also add additional information on shooting when I think of other good thoughts. If you would really like to become a great shooter this information and lots of practice is your ticket. I will try to follow this with a teaching post on some other aspects of play at some point such as defense***

Coach May

Holiday Basketball Practice

Hi Girls,

As it stands now, I have requested the gym for these time slots and it is set:

Friday 17th: 4:oo to 5:30
Sunday 19th 5:00 to 7:00pm
Monday we play JV Tournament
Tuesday we play JV Tournament
Wednesday 22th: 3:00 to 4:30 Practice Canceled on Wednesday for a Great Tournament Win.
Thursday 23rd: 3:00 to 4:30
Friday Christmas Eve off
Merry Christmas!!
Monday 27th: 3:00 to 4:30
Tuesday 28th: 3:00 to 4:30
Wednesday 29th: 3:00 to 4:30
Thursday 30th: 3:00 to 4:30
Friday 31st: 9:00am to 11:00am

***Jan 3rd, 2011, We will leave school at 10:32 to attend Basketball Practice at UNC. Every player will have to to sign a release form and turn it into Mr. Wiggs at the office to be able to go. If you do not have a form you cannot go. If you would rather stay at school and not go that is your option. We will eat lunch and those that would like we can stop at the Red Lobster on the way home(optional) can do so. Just bring enough money to eat.

The release form should read:(Make your Own and don't forget it)

I give ____***Full name***_____________________ my permission to go on a school field trip with the JV Girls Basketball Team on Jan 3, 2011 to Chapel Hill, NC to attend a UNC Varsity Mens Practice.

Signed by Parent*****

If there are changes I will make the corrections on this blogspot. We will try to go back and address some team weaknesses and individual skills over the Christmas break and after the JV Tournament. The conference season starts soon after Christmas Break.

Coach May

Jan 4, 2011 Practice as usual 3:15 pm to 4:30 pm.
Jan 5,2011 NEA at Halifax

Mr. Chambliss

Hi Girls,

Mr. Chambliss passed away Sunday morning at 10:20. Keep him and his family in your prayers. He was a very special man and I am going to miss him. Thanks for dedicating the Game vs. NEA to him.

Coach May

A Bad Day at Village Christian

Hi Ladies;

Not a good night for us. V.C. ran exactly what we prepared for. It is called the run and jump #32, it was invented by accident at the University of Kansas when Dean Smith was a Senior player and his team used it to win the National Championship in 1953. Coach Smith brought it to Chapel Hill as a coach and popularized it. We have tried to put it in use I know for the last two years maybe even before that but we have not been very good at running it. It requires a lot of practice time and quickness. So due to lack of practice time to spend on getting good at it we don't run it. It is a great defense and very hard to play against since you have to be very disciplined and have everyone do their jobs consistently and precisely to beat it. You absolutely cannot pass the ball sideways once you get near the half court line since they overplay the passing lanes once the dribbler is trapped and a turnover at midcourt leads to a lay up for them. That is why we had those other 3 downcourt options since they did not always send the same girls to run the double team. That is why we were supposed to stop before half court and before dribbling into the double team. They only double you if you got near the half court line and they wanted to make the trap just across the half court line.

We lost by 16 points, 39 to 23. As you can tell from the other scores against our schools teams they are a very powerful basketball school. I doubt we will play a better team this season. We lost by 16, the JV Boys lost by around 40 and the Varsity Girls lost by around 50. Our shooting in the end killed us. We only made 6 shots out of 32. By my best guess 25 of the shot we took were lay ups or short shots within 4 feet of the basket. If you do the math,that means we missed around 19 short shots, if we made half of them we would have won the game even with a terrible 18 turnovers.

Stats:

Scoring by Quarters: 1st; 10 to 15, 2nd; 8 to 10, 3rd; 3 to 10, 4th; 2 to 4.

Scoring: Mer 7 pts, Jamie 7 pts, Emily 5 pts, Alex 2 pts, Lindsey 2pts.

VCA Scoring: #35 Lauren Goldner 16 pts, #20 Hannah Morrison 7 pts, #32 Brittany Tschida 5 pts, #5 Brett Hinkamp 4 points. No other higher than 2 points.

FG%: Team 6/32 18.75%; Individuals: Jamie 2/6*,Alex 1/4, Emily 2/9, Mer 1/6, Lindsey 0/1, M&M 0/1,
Jordan 0/1, Kaela 0/1, Kim 0/1. 33.3% is the minimum winning % against a decent team. This team was a very good team so we would have had to make around 44% to have won. That would have been 8 more lay ups or shots to tie.

3pts shots: M&M 0/1. Jordan 0/1.

FT %: Team 11/23 48.8%: Individual Lindsey 2/2****, Jamie 3/4***, Mer 5/11, Emily 1/4, Megan K 0/1, Jorday 0/1.


Rebounds: Team 6off/17Defensive; Mer 3/11****, Jamie 2/0, Alex 0/2, Kelly 1/1, Jordan 0/1, Leslie 0/1,
Emily 0/1.

Assists: Team 5; Alex 2*, Lindsey 2*, Jamie 1*.

Steals: Team 8; Alex 4****, Mer 1*, Jamie 1*, Lindsey 1*, M&M 1*.

Blocks: Lindsey 1*, Kim 1*.

Turnovers: Team 18; Lindsey 7, Jamie 4, Mer 1,Emily 1, Kelly 1, Megan K 1, M&M 1, Kim 1, Brooke 1.

Bottom Line: Too many turnovers and too many missed lay ups. Make our lay ups and we win. Make half our missed lay ups and we win a close game. Make lay ups and take away the turnovers that led to lay ups for them and we win big. Chances are we will not see that defense again this year(I hope not), unless Brunswick runs it no other team on our schedule used that defense last season or in any other year I have coached. That is one of the things that makes the run and jump work good for them, teams hardly ever play against that defense so it is hard to get used to it. Even with 7 defensive players on the court yesterday at practice all at once we really could not simulate the pressure VCA was able to create and the speed they were able to do it with.

As you know, we are not allowed to practice during exam week. As it stands right now I plan to practice Friday after exams at our usual time if the gym is available after the Octagon Club Christmas meeting scheduled there for Friday after exams. Keep Sunday night open also 5:00 to 7:00 approximately if I can get the gym for those times. We play the annual JV Christmas Tournament on Monday 12/20 and Tuesday 12/21. We have never lost this tournament since I have been coaching and I do not plan to start this year if we can help it. We will need Friday and Sunday to get the kinks from exams out in order to play close to our best.

Study hard, Basketball is fun but grades are what will get you where you want to go in life. Take studying seriously and do your best on the exams.

BTW, if you did not know it, Village Christian has an enrollment of 791 students. They are one of the largest 2A schools in the NCISAA. I for one would rather find another school of similar enrollment of us to play. Having such a numerical advantage gives sports teams huge advantages in finding 6 or 7 real good players in sports like Basketball.

***As I have told you in practice a number of times I am on the court almost always by 3:00pm, If you need help with your skill development or understanding anything we do in practice all you have to do is ask. I also am usually available after practice everyday. We only practice about 75 to 70 minutes per day depending on how fast all you girls get on the court from class so if you want to really improve you have got to take ownership in your improvement and understanding your job on the court. For most of you this will mean putting in some extra time.

Thought: The best way to improve the team is to improve your own play. John Wooden UCLA
***If every player would do this think how much we could improve.***

Coach May

Victory @ NEA

Hi Girls,

A nice win against Northeast Academy. You always want to be the kingpin in your own neighborhood. The closer to home the better it is to keep the bragging rights. It also was especially nice that we won this game for Mr. Chambliss. The Final Score was 32 to 6 and we were able to give every girl some quality playing time that is very difficult to do with only 6 minute quarters and 14 girls on the roster .

Stats:

Scoring by quarters: 1st 12-0, 2nd 10-2, 3rd 10-0 4th 0-4

Scoring: Mer 6pts, Alex 6pts, Lindsey 6, Kelly 6, Jamie 2, Kim 2, M&M 2, Kaela 2.

NEA Scoring: #35 Robyne Barnes 4pts, #21 Anna Liverman 2pts.

FG%: Team 15/45 33.3%*; Individual; Kelly 3/3****, Alex 3/5**, Lindsey 3/6**, Mer 2/4**,M&M 2/6*,
Kaela 1/3*,Kim 1/5, Jordan 0/1, Catherine 0/1, Jamie 0/2, Brooke 0/2 Leslie 0/3, Emily 0/4. 33.3% is the minimum winning %.

FT%: Team 4/6- 66.6%**; Jamie 2/2****, Mer 2/2****, Lindsey 0/2.

3pts shooting: Team 0/3; Lindsey 0/1, Alex 0/1, Catherine 0/1.

Rebounds: Team 8off/12def: Kaela 2/1**, Leslie 0/3**, Mer 2/0*, Emily 2/0*, Jordan 0/2*, MeganK 1/1*,
M&M 1/1*, Kim 0/2*, Jamie 0/1, Brooke 0/1.

Assists: Team 8; Mer 2**, Jordan 2**, Emily 1*, Jamie 1*, Lindsey 1*, MeganK 1*.

Steals: Team 18****; Lindsey 4****, Alex 3***, Mer 2**, M&M 2**, Catherine 2**, Jamie 1*, Kelly 1*,
MeganK 1*, Kaela 1*, Brooke 1*.

Blocks: Lindsey 1**, Kaela 1**.

Turnovers: Team 7; MeganK 2, M&M 1, Jordan 1, Kim 1, Catherine 1, Brooke 1.

Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together.

Coach May

Faith Christian @ Home.

O.K. Girls,

An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss. We defeated Faith 33 to 20 but it was not a game that we can be very proud of anything about it except the outcome and that we played hard. Missing layups and not being able to execute plays is going to get better or we are going to fall far short of the potential we have with this team. To date this is the first team I have coached that could not execute plays with some degree of skill. That includes my very first team when it was brand new to every player on the court.

Getting better will start with practice on Tuesday. We cannot keep trying to wish the ball where we need it to go instead of making good passes, we cannot play sound basketball and not value the ball. In case you have not noticed the ball is important, you would never score if you don't have the ball. If you take care of the ball and get a lot more good shots at the basket than your opponent you have a great advantage in a basketball game.

We absolutely cannot keep missing point blank layups. There is a lot to said for having the necessary focus to improve and we need to get with it. We need to make our #one focus become making lay ups and being more careful with the basketball or as it is called in coaching jargon "value the basketball".


Stats: By quarters; 1st- 3-7, 2nd-8-0, 3rd 11-6, 4th 11-7

Scoring: Emily-8pts, Jamie 7pts, Meredith 6pts, Alex 4pts, Kelly 4pts, Lindsey 2pts.

Faith Scoring: #4 Stephanie Stallings 7pts, #12 Carrie Lewis 6pts, #30 Bailey Parks 5pts, #11 Mary B Fisher 2pts.

FG%: Team 13/47( 27.6%); M&M 1/1***, Alex 2/4**, Kelly 2/6*, Lindsey 1/4*, Emily 3/11, Mer 3/12,
Jamie 1/8.

FT%: Team 7/21(33.3%) Jamie 5/12 , Emily 2/7, Kelly 0/2.

Rebounds: Team 14off/17def; Kelly 5/6, Mer 4/5, Emily 3/1, Lindsey 0/3, Alex 1/1, Jamie 1/0, Kaela 0/1.

Assists: Team 6; Mer 2, Lindsey 2, Kelly 1, Alex 1.

Turnovers: Team 11; Lindsey 3, Jamie 3, Mer 2, Emily 2, Leslie 1.

Steals: Team 11; Jamie 3, Lindsey 3, Mer 2, Emily 2, M&M 1.

Blocks: Team 3; Mer 1, Em 1, Kelly 1.


I might post some additional thoughts later but the one thing that comes to mind is we have to work harder and with more focus to get better in the areas we are not doing well. Lay ups, Value the Basketball, FT's and Assists, which will go up by executing the plays we run better.

Grades: Play Hard-A , Play Smart-D, Play Together-B, Execution-Offense F, Defense B.

Thought: You never get back more than you are willing to put into something. We have got to be willing to invest our focus and our effort towards improving both our team skills and our individual skills. Time's wasting for this team, we just had practice #20 so we are about 25% thru this season. Those that have a passion to be really good need to step up. Opportunity only knocks so many times.

Coach May

Jan 3rd Trip to Carolina Practice.

Hi Girls,

As I told you at practice last week I have gotten permission from Coach Roy Williams for us to attend a Carolina Men's Practice on Jan 3, 2011. We will leave school around 10:32, stop and eat lunch probably at Wendy's in Chapel Hill and be at the Dean E Smith Center by 1:30. Practice officially starts at 2:00pm and will last around 2 hours or a little less. This should be a very good learning experience since we have copied much from the UNC learning system as passed on from Dean Smith to Roy Williams. I think you will be impressed with how hard they practice and how there is no wasted time. BTW, we will have to be quite while watching practice. No exceptions!

If you like we can make plans to eat dinner at the Red Lobster or some other nice spot on the way home or we can just come on back or fast food it. I will check with you all on that .

I will need a few parents to volunteer to drive but they are very particular about letting many people into practice so we will need to limit the number of drivers as best we can to maybe 5 including myself. This is considered a field trip and parents will have to sign a consent form for their children to go.

We will miss practice that Monday, first day back from Christmas Break, then practice on Tuesday and play on Wednesday at home vs. NEA.

I will post additional information if any comes available. If you wish to go please make certain your parents read this post.


Coach May

Jan 3rd Trip to Carolina Practice.

Nice win @ Fayetteville Academy

Hi Girls,

The first quarter we actually played well but we missed so many layups. The second quarter we played our worse quarter of the year, it was the first time this year I have been disappointed with our effort and focus. The second half we went back to Playing like a Team and playing hard and smart and pulled away. Remember Play Hard, Play Smart and Play Together? When we drift away from that bad things happen.

Jamie had a great game and really held us in there in the first half when we were struggling. Kelly gave our offense and defense a big lift with a dominant second half. Mer did a great job working hard on the defensive glass in the second half. The domination of the defensive boards and concentrating on staying in front of our man defensively when they had the ball were the keys of the second half along with the fact our relentless pressure began to take its toll on their team.

Here are the Stats:

Scoring by Quarters: 1st: 8-2; 2nd 3-6; 3rd 15-7; 4th 8-2 Final Score 34 to 17

Individual Scoring: Jamie 15pts, Kelly 10pts, Emily 4pts, Lindsey 3pts, Mer 2 pts.

Fay Academy: #25 Sarah Reavis 4pts, #30 Kendal Williams 4pts, #21 Kenan Stiehl 4pts,
#12 Rebecca Gainey 2 pts, #11 Jan Schafer 2pts.

FG%: Team; Team 12/36 33.3%*; Ind: Kelly 5/8**, Jamie 4/12*, Mer 1/3*, Emily 2/7, Kim 0/1, Lindsey 0/5. 33% is the minimum winning percentage

3Pt%: 100%; Lindsey 1/1****

FT %: Team 7/14 50%: Jamie 7/12***, Emily 0/2. Fifty percent is the minimum winning percentage.

Rebounds: Team 5off/14def; Individual: Mer 0/6***, Kelly 2/2**, Jamie 0/2*, Lindsey 0/2*, Megan K 2/0*, M&M 0/1*, Brooke 0/1*.

Assists: Team 8; Lindsey 3***, Mer 2**, Jamie 1*, Emily 1* , Alex 1*(Sideout Play). We had more turnovers than assist. It should be reversed.

T/0's: Team 10: Jamie 3, Mer-Emily-Lindsey-Kelly-Megan K, M&M,Catherine all had 1.

Steals: Team 18** Individual; Jamie 5***, Kelly 3**, Mer 3**, Alex 2*, Lindsey 2*, Megan K 1*, Leslie 1*, Kim 1*.

Blocks: Team 4; Kelly 3***, Alex 1*.

Some closing thoughts: It is always nice to win. We can play so much better than we did in the first half. Even in the second half our execution of plays was terrible except for crisscross. We even ran 4J wrong for the first time ever. Our execution of inbounds plays was exceptional, I think we scored at least 8 points just on good execution of line and sideout. We need to bring some of that same execution to these other plays. They are layups waiting to happen when executed properly. Some day the game is going to be on the line and poor execution is going to cost us if we do not refocus our efforts. We did a better job of pushing the secondary break up the court and letting Jamie penetrate to the basket before the Fay. Ac. defense was set, however we still have plenty of room to improve on that by pushing it harder and running the court harder.

Remember we need to be able score in these ways and we are capable with a little effort:
1- From our Defense, steals.
2- Inbound plays
3- Primary Break from steals and rebounds with good outlets.
4- Secondary Break(discussed above)
5- Set plays (We should score at least 10 points per game here maybe more)
6- Foul Shots (70% is a good goal, 50% is the minimum)
7- Free Lance Passing Game offense(Read Option vs Zone is the same thing). Basically at this point with most of you girls having played for me for 3 years the good stuff in our passing game offense always resembles a play of some type we run, it is just more spontaneous, but it is also more dependent on the passers and the scorers being on the same page mentally to make it work)

Thought for the Day: The biggest enemy of being Great is being good because to many players let being pretty good trick them into not working hard enough on their game to be Great. Dean Smith UNC.

Don't let being simply pretty good make you as an individual not become as good as you can be and for heaven sakes don't let it keep our team from becoming the Great Team it could be just because of not having the commitment to be Great.

Have a passion for being the best you can be and a passion to be the best team we can be.

Our attitude will determine our altitude. Roy Williams UNC

Coach May

Nice win over Hobgood

Hi Girls,

Nice win tonight over one of our arch rivals Hobgood 39 to 10. I was impressed with our effort our defense and our interior passing and rebounding. Many coaches think if you dominate the boards like we did it is the game. I don't know if all that is true but I do know when we dominate the boards we have hardly ever lost.

I am going to post our stats and I might come back and add some thoughts later if I come up with some. If I don't I will see you at practice tomorrow, next up Fayetteville Academy on the road Friday.

Scoring by Quarters: 1st: 6-0, 2nd: 13-2, 3rd 12-8, 4th 8-0 Final: 39 to 10

Scoring: Halifax; Kelly 12pts, Jamie 9 pts, Emily 6 pts, Mer 4 pts, Lindsey 4 pts, Megan 2 pts, Jordan 2 pts

Scoring Hobgood; #31 April Duke 5pts., #15 Megan Medford 3 pts, #35 Kaylie Barwick 2 pts.

FG% Team: 35.2% 19/54. Individuals: Jamie 4/6***, Mer 2/4**, Kelly 6/12**, Lindsey 2/4, Megan K 1/3*, Jordan 1/3*, Emily 3/10, Kim 0/1, Catherine 0/1, Brooke 0/1, M&M 0/2,
Alex 0/5.

FT% Team 16.7%; Individual; Jamie 1/4, Mer 0/2. Practice, Practice, Practice!!!

Rebounds Team: 14off/21Def=35; Individual: Mer 2/7**, Kelly 4/3**, Emily 5/1*, M&M 0/3,
Jamie 1/1, Megan K 1/1, Leslie 1/1, Alex 0/1, Kaela, 0/1, Kim 0/1, Catherine 0/1.

Assists: Team 13: Individual; Mer 5***, Jamie 3**, Lindsey 1, Alex 1, Kelly 1, M&M 1,
Brooke 1.

Turnovers Team 8: Mer 2, Alex 2, Catherine 2, Kelly 1, Leslie 1.

Steals team: 13; Jamie 5***, Lindsey 5***, Jordan 2*, Leslie 1*

Blocks: Kelly 3***.

Final Thoughts: It was good to get everyone some time on the court. Thats always good for team morale. As you can tell we have a very talented team. However we can't depend on that physical talent always winning us games. We have to become better everyday and better in everyway. Not missing lay ups would be a huge advantage. Making our fouls shots will win us many close games.

I thought Mer had a great game. 5 assists and 9 rebounds was great. Jamie as usual had a great game 5 steals, 3 assists, great defense and 9 points, Kelly made her presence felt with 12 points 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. Lindsey picked back up from last season with a good floor game and 5 steals. I was excited for Megan K get her first points as a Viking and she played a nice floor game. Last but not least, Emily did some good work on the offensive glass with 5 offensive rebounds.

Enjoy this win until practice tomorrow and then come ready to work on getting better. As I told you in the locker room after the game, every team is going to get better during the year. If we stop to rest on our laurels someone is going to pass us.

Remember: Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together and Strive for Perfect Execution on every play in practice and in games. Practice does not make Perfect, Perfect Practice makes Perfect.

Coach May

Friday Practice for Hobgood

Hi Girls,

DISMISSAL TIME FOR HOME GAMES IS 2:30PM. WHITE UNIFORMS! REST GOOD!

Things we covered in practice Friday.

1- Tip Play
2- Secondary Break
3- Dean Play
4- Gap Play
5- Shot Blocking philosophy
6- Right to an upright stance, what to know
7- Crossover, Crossover with back to the defender and Crossover and pass for the lay up
8- 32 Run and Jump Defense
9- Pushing the ball ahead against a partially set defense.
10-How to force the dribbler to their left or opposite hand

We play Hobgood Academy on Tuesday at 3:15. Hobgood is one of our biggest rivals. Last year I lost my first game ever to Hobgood. I did not like it very much. They played well and we did not play up to expectations. We only made 24% of our shots from the floor. Remember 33% is sort of the bottom end for winning on shooting percentage at this level and you had better do some other things well to win with that.

We will wear White uniforms for Home Games. Hopefully Catherine's jersey will be here. Johnson and Lambe has it and is changing the number to #12 from Nancy Fleming Morris's retired #14 . Our Warm ups should be here soon. Once all the numbers are established we will try to get the tee shirts ordered and priced. We all will need Green Hoodies for the cold to wear with our warm ups to travel. It will have your number on it. Girls that have hoodies from last year can just use those same hoodies since they should match and all returning players wanted their old numbers back.

Any girls, especially the first year players that can get to the gym on school days that we practice and on the court I will be there early enough to work with you as a group and individuals on half the gym from 3:00pm to 3:15pm to try and help you improve your skills both as a group and as individuals. The opposite end of the gym will stay available for the girls that are past needing this extra fundamental level teaching time. You might consider asking your teacher if you can leave class a little early if there is nothing important going on.

Academic's are important to me. If ever you need to stay after school to visit with a teacher for extra help I suggest you do it. Please try to send me word so I will know where you are. Basketball is great but doing great in school should always be your #1 goal.

I was impressed with the number of JV Girls on the first 9 week honor roll. Keep up the good work. We have a very smart team.

Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together and Strive for Perfect Execution!

Coach May

Happy Thanksgiving Girls.

Hi Girls,

Practice Friday at 3:00pm to 4:30pm.

It was a good practice Wednesday. I see lots of players making steady improvement in both their individual talents and as a team working together on the court.

I am going to work harder on developing your individual skills in the coming weeks. When you stop getting better you are going backwards progression wise. Never be complacent.

**All Girls please go back and read "things to make us a better team". I have added a few things and some things cannot be stressed enough. We all need to know these things.

Have a Great Thanksgiving and be thankful for Our Lord, Your Family, The chance to have a good education and for your teammates, your true friends and Basketball. In that order.

Remember to tell your loved one's Thank You for their effort to prepare you and your family a nice Thanksgiving Meal.

Never forget how truly blessed we all are!

Coach May

Victory @ Faith Christian

Hi Girls,

We defeated a good Faith Christian Team tonight 36 to 23. Here are the stats:

Viking Scoring: Jamie Harris 16 pts, Kelly Williams 10 pts, Emily Conner 8 pts, Alex Darnell 2 pts.

Faith Scoring: #4 Stephanie Stallings 11 pts, #12 Carrie Lewis 10 pts, #20 Rebecca Schellenberg 2 pts.

FG%: Team; 16/35 46%*** 33% is the minimum winning percentage.

FG%: Individuals; Emily Conner 4/5 80%***, Kelly Williams 5/8 62.5%***,
Jamie Harris 6/10 60%***, Alex Darnell 1/4 25%, Lindsey Pulley 0/1, M. Mohorn 0/1, J. Jean o/2, M. Stephenson 0/4.

FT%: Team; 4/10 40% The minimum winning percentage is 50%. I would like to be at least 60%. I think that is a goal we are capable of attaining.

FT%: Individual; Jamie Harris 4/6 67%**, Emily Conner 0/4(Em's form looks good, she will make her share this year, IMO).

Rebounds: Team 3off/23D. Emily 0/6***, Lindsey 0/4**. Alex 0/4**, Kelly 1off/3D*,
Jamie 1/2*, Mer 1/1, Jordan 0/1, Kaela 0/1, Leslie 0/1.( We need to work the offensive glass a little harder and be stronger with the ball after getting the Defensive Rebound)

Assists: Team 11; Lindsey 4**, Jamie 3**, Megan M 2*, Kelly 1*, Alex 1*. (We had 11 assist to 8 turnovers and that is a really good ratio)

Turnovers: Team 8; Jamie 3, Lindsey 1, Mer 1, Jordan 1, Megan M 1, Leslie 1.

Steals: Team 6; Jamie 2, Alex 2, Lindsey 1, Kelly 1. ( A little surprised we could not steal the ball from them more)

Blocks: Team 2; Jamie 2**.(Kelly, Mer and Em should get 2 or 3 apiece most any game just by looking for the opportunity and getting their hands up quicker)

All in all a good showing against a good team. I was a little surprised we could not turn them over easier but sometimes it is hard to steal the ball from a good team.

Secondly I do not think we played the 24 defense as well as we can. Remember no defense is any stronger than the weakest link at any given time so 4 girls can be locking their man down and playing their hearts out and 1 player can be not keeping up with their man and they pass it to the player who is wide open and nothing happens. Also we need to be able to see where the ball is and see our man at the same time. Several times they pushed the ball up the court and we had defenders at the goal who never turned around and forced them to make a play allowing an easy basket.

Technically our goal in 24 is to deny the pass to our player, if a player has the ball our goal is to play aggressive defense with our feet to block their path and make them pick their dribble up. Once they lose their dribble they should be attacked without fouling while the other players intensify their effort to not let their man become a receiver. Remember, if the ball is closely guard for 5 seconds it is a turnover same as a steal.

I thought we did a good job of running some stuff. Jamie had a terrific game both defensively and offensively. Emily and Kelly did a good job around the basket and Lindsey did a good job running the team. If I had to do it over again I would have used the open offense against them. But, it will work out so the next time we play them we will have something they have not prepared for.

Alex had two nice long passes on Fly to Jamie for baskets, those baskets kind of broke their backs if they had any intentions of making a run late in the game. We need to get the airball pass play down a little. Jamie actually made a pretty good pass but we did not execute it like we should. We will practice it more in the next week.

Have a good nights sleep and I will see you at 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm Wednesday and Friday for practice for one of our big rivals Hobgood next Tuesday.

If I forget to tell you Have a Great Thanksgiving on Thursday and while you are giving thanks make sure you let your parents know how thankful you are for all they do to get you to practice's and game's. Also, know how Thankful I am for the opportunity to Coach each of you.

It is an old saying the greatest compliment a team can give their coach and their teammates is to play hard all the time. I consider it the #1 reason I love to coach basketball. Thanks for your effort!

BTW, the Varsity Girls did a great job of running the 24 Lockdown defense(They call it Deny) to make a comeback and get a nice win against Faith. Four of the girls on the court all were good at running it since we played it so much on the JV and Abby seems to be a natural for it with size and speed. It is a fun way to play.

See you at practice and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Coach May

Faith Christian on Tuesday 3:30

Hi Girls,

First game tomorrow is finally here. Here are some notes:

Dress nice for travel.

Wear your Green Uniform. (Catherine I will bring Jersey # 10 for you, bring your team shorts)

Make sure you have shoes and socks.

Your Warm ups have been ordered and hopefully we will have them soon.

Dismissal Time is 1:30pm.

Be at the Gym ready to warm up by 2:45. We will probably go in to meet and run out at around 3:10. Tip time is 3:30.

They have a nice concession area adjacent to their new gym.

Make certain you have a ride. If you need a ride contact me at 252-308-2863(cell)

No earrings allowed or necklaces or anything sharp in your hair during games. NCISAA rules.

Edit to add: Directions to Faith Academy can be found on the halifaxacademy.org website under athletics/away game directions. Basically it is 5 stop lights past the hospital.

As one of my favorite sayings goes "Failing to prepare is preparing to Fail", we prepared as well as any team I have ever coached. I am very proud of the improvement we have made as a team since the first day of practice. Now we get to go out and use all this stuff we worked on in a game that counts. It is fun to compete, I love it. Let's Play Hard, Play Smart and Play Together and Execute to the best of our ability. If we do that I like our chances.


See you tomorrow,

Coach May

No Practice or Scrimmage 11/18/10

Hi Girls,

As you know we had a potentially dangerous situation yesterday at practice. The game with RRHS has been cancelled. Due to law enforcement agency's using the campus and the potential for danger we will not practice until the situation is resolved. Take the time to rest your legs, and catch up on your school work, we have our first game at Faith Christian Tuesday.

Obviously when we return to school we will practice and if we can practice before then I will post it on this site.

Be Safe,

Coach May

RR Scrimmage Stats

Hi Girls,

It has been good to play some competition other than ourselves in the last week or so. It also is good for our development as a team. I think slowly we are beginning to stamp out an identity for this team.

Points: Emily 10, Kelly 7, Mer 5, Jamie 4, Alex 3, Lindsey 2

FG%: Emily 5/8*, Kelly 3/6*, Lindsey 1/2*, Jamie 2/5*, Mer 1/5, Jordan 0/1, Kim 0/2,
Alex 0/8. 33.3% is the minimum winning shooting % from the field and is marked with a *.
3Pts: Alex 1/2* ( This was good, but we need to keep the number on this shot down by moving the ball quickly and getting shots closer to the basket)

FTs: Kelly 1/1*, Mer 3/8, Jamie 0/2, Emily 0/2, Lindsey 0/1. Minimum winning % is 50 % marked with *.( We can do better, several of the shots were shot well and just did not go down.)

Reb's; offensive/defensive: Kelly 2/5=7*, Jamie 2/3=5*, Emily 1/4=5*, Mer 3/1=4*, Alex 1, Lindsey 1, Megan K 1, Kim 1, Leslie 1, Catherine 1. (Fairly good but not a dominant as we can be)

Assists: Lindsey 4*, Jamie 4*, Jordan 2*, Alex 2*, Megan 1*( At time we really showed how well we can pass, would have like to not have had the foolish unforced turnovers.)

Turnovers: Team 13.

Steals: Mer 2, Alex 2, Jamie 1, Lindsey 1. ( In general I did not feel we made enough steals considering the opportunities, however they did make unforced turnovers maybe due to not being able to get a good shot against our zone defense)

In general it was a fairly good showing, I thought the post players had a good game, I thought Jamie was dominant on defense. Lindsey did a good job of running the PG position. We need not fool ourselves though we need to keep pushing to get better and also find our teams identity. Every team is different and it is my job as your coach to find what we can do the best to gain an advantage in a game. I am seeing progress and I also think I know the direction we need to move in. Everyone keep working hard.


Thought: Dreaming of reaching goals without putting in the work and the effort to prepare to reach the goals is just dreaming. Bob Rotella, Professional Sports Phycologist

See you at practice tomorrow. Come ready to get better!

**Note: Never forget our #1 goal is to Win. I will never sacrifice a chance for our team to win as long as we have a chance. I think that if you give me 100% in practice and games it is my job to give you 100% chance to win.

Our 2nd goal is to develop the players on this team with skills and understanding of the game as much as possible. I have been impressed with the girls that have played for me and how much they have improved from year to year. This year is no exception. Keep pushing to get better.

Our 3rd goal is to have fun. Winning usually takes care of that. To me basketball when executed correctly is a beautiful game. Play with a passion for the game and a passion to get better, we can be no better as a team than how far that passion carries us.

2nd Thought: There is no Glory in Practice but without Practice there is no Glory! Sylvia Hatchell UNC


Coach May

Things to know to be a Better Team.

Hi Girls,

***This is a repeat of something I posted for one of my prior teams. You all need to read it and take it to heart. ****

1- Always Hustle and Play Hard! By playing hard all the time and playing hard Together it greatly increases our chances.

2- Always pay attention in practice to what I say. In a game always pay extra attention to what I say. If I am hollering to put your hands up it is for a reason. Maybe I can see the official is getting ready to call a reaching foul on you. Listen and be in tune.

3- Always be prepared to line up in Press Offense and Sideout/Baseline situations. By not lining up we give the other team an advantage. Some Coaches coach their players to look to steal the ball when a team plays unorganized. The Cary Christian Coach is one of them.

4- We need to become a better rebounding team. Period! Work harder on the glass, box out, try to get inside position, anticipate the shot and attack the ball aggressively.

5- Little Things to Note:

a- Learn to look down the court while starting your dribble or even before. Your teammate if she is running the court is only open usually for about 1 second. Don't miss the opportunity to get an easy basket by not looking ahead.

b- If an opposing player is in the corner, Trap Her. One player can do it by themselves by being agrressive and alert. Make that player make a play from a bad situation.

c- See your man and the ball. If you do not know where the ball is when you are on defense you are at a serous disadvantage.

d- Sprint the court and turn to face the opposing offense quickly on fast breaks. Make the opponent make a play.

e- Always be ready to receive the ball. Your hands and your mind should always be looking for a pass from anywhere at any time. Many times your teammate might see you open and Not Pass you the ball because they see you are not looking.

f- On defense make sure you do not let your opposition squeeze down the sideline. If you put your food on the edge of the court they can only go one way. Anticipate that move and take advantage of it. Try to make her use her off hand(left is she prefers her right).

g- Understand the game. Get players the ball in positions they are most likely to be successful. This is double true in key situations.

h- Make the easy pass. Long crosscourt passes thru many hands are seldom effective and usually two point for the other team. A good skip pass is entirely different against a zone defense that an outfront cross court pass. Learn the difference.

I- Move the ball quickly with crisp accurate passes. Do not telegraph your pass. Do not force passes into a crowd wishing the ball will get there. If there is nothing there we need to swing the ball back around making the easy quick pass and give the defense a chance to get out of position. Have good judgement and value the ball. Always have a plan on what options you have with the ball after you have received it.

j- Play defense with your feet and you hands. Square up on your opponent and take away the dribbling lanes to the basket. Force a player to use their dribble and pick it up then increase the defensive pressure on the ball while your teammates work on taking away the passing lanes creating a steal opportunity. Do not reach across the body of a player dribbling by you with your opposite hand. It is an automatic foul call in most games.

k- Practice does not make Perfect. Prefect Practice makes Perfect. Give all skill drills your full effort. Make every pass as close to perfect as you possibly can. The little things make a difference.

l- Pay attention to detail. Know your job!

m- Be strong with the ball and value the ball. Every time we turn the ball over it is 2 points we cannot score and 2 points they can score. Thus it can create a 4 point swing in a close game.

n- Execute it the way we practice it. Do not re-invent the wheel. You can sometimes use common sense such as if your man forgot to guard you go to the rim and call for the ball but in general everyone needs to do their jobs the same way so your teammates know where to look.

o- Defensively try to force you opponent to use their weak hand. Many players just cannot go left(if right handed) by forcing her left it greatly increases our chances of forcing a turnover.

p- Work hard to improve your skills. Take what we work on and say in practice and spend some time developing your talents. Every player should always be working on something to make them better. It could be as simple as dribbling to the left, making a perfect pass every time that hits your target in the chest or in stride without having to slow down.

q- Box out. Get your player on your back, work to get inside position on rebounds. We are a pretty good rebounding team but we could and should be a dominant rebounding team both defensively and on the offensive glass.

r- Never stop to pout. If you miss a shot don't let it affect the following defensive opportunity. While you are mad at yourself your opponent might be breaking down the court for a lay up. Hustle back extra hard.

s- Always be in the game if you are not in. When I send you to the scorers table hopefully you know who you are subbing for was guarding and what defense we are playing. When you sub in ask who you are replacing if you are not positive. You never know when your opportunity will come up. Always be ready. It could be your finest time ever on the court. Be prepared to play your best.

t- 50 -50 lose balls. Always win the majority of them.

u- Defensive Position- Square up to your man, put your left foot out further than your right to force your man to go left if they are right handed, reverse if left handed. If beat sprint in front of your man and then turn around and square up and force your man to make a play. Slide your feet if you need to move laterally.

We have 5 or 6 girls on this team that have had quite a bit of game experience. This should mean we do not make many mistakes. Offensively or defensively. If we are going to be good this is what we need to do. We need to make certain we are never out hustled or out worked on the court.

Thought: Hustle, Determination and Focus make up for many disadvantages in a Basketball game.
John Wooden, UCLA

2nd Thought: If Hustle, Determination and Focus make up for disadvantages in a basketball game what does it do for a team that is more talented than the opposition?

Perfect Execution plus Playing Hard, Playing Smart and Playing Together equals championships.

Coach May

RRJV Scrimmage

Hi Girls,

Be at RRHS Gym at 5:45 pm on Monday. Wear your uniform (Green) if you have one. If you do not have a uniform I will bring enough Green jerseys for everyone to have one.

As far as today's scrimmage vs. the varsity girls. Being a good team for us basically is going to boil down to 3 main area's of improvement. Making our lay ups, not throwing the ball away so consistently and not getting beat down the court on defense.

We have not practiced our offensive plays for the 1-3-1 zone yet but we will get there soon. Hope RR doesn't use alot of 1-3-1 Monday. Most teams we play in our conference do not use it. I am not sure we played a single game against it last season. Fayetteville Christian ran one 2 years ago.

Rabbit plans to have the gym open Sunday night at 5:00pm for any of you that would like to work on your shooting. I would suggest 50 shots from the area of the court you normally shoot from plus 50 from the foul line. We have to improve our shooting.

Last year we scored most of our points from steals and the spread. To date this year I am not sure we can take the ball away as effectively. I will be looking for a combination that can. We will work on the spread offense package before we play any games that count.

BTW, I understand there will be real officials at the scrimmage Monday. Not much got called today, Rabbit does not usually call anything much and if he lets it go I usually let it go also. We just have to suck it up and play.

Have a good weekend and come ready Monday to:

Play Hard, Play Smart and Play Together.


Coach May

Something to be Learned

Hi Girls,

A couple of thoughts about todays scrimmage with the JV Boys.

1- We will probably not play a JV Girls team all year that has their quickness and size or talent.

2- Our team lacked judgement and patience. Poor judgement on trying to make too many home run type passes thru closely guarded players with quick hands. And secondly, the lack of patience to move the ball around and give their defense a chance to get out of position or for one of our players to break free for a real good pass and shot opportunity.

3- We gambled way to much on defense. We were running 22. That means sprint back, make sure the basket is covered first, once the dribbler is under control build back out to our man. If we can force the dribbler to pick up his dribble we would seriously overplay the passing lanes looking for the steal. If we overplay to much against a team with good talent they are going to make us pay, this is especially true about trying to pressure a good dribbler out front who is capable to taking it to the basket off the dribble. We have to be smart enough to pick our spots for hard pressure and make sure we make the opposition work for what they get. If we want to turn up the heat we will play 24 or 24 lockdown.

4- Friday we are going to scrimmage some with the Varsity Girls. We need to play a more passive 22 defense against them because we do not want Hayley blowing thru the middle for a layup all night. ( Read item 3 above.) On offense we need to have the good judgement to make the easy pass and the simple pass instead of trying to wish it somewhere that is closely guarded. Roy Williams says that basically it always comes down to the Quality of our shots against the Quality of theirs. We want to make sure they are shooting long shots. In our case we would like lay ups but we have to also be willing and able to make some wide open 15 foot shots.

5- We need to make certain that we do not play out of control. We have the ability to play fast but we are not going to get a layup on the first two passes every time down the court, especially against a set defense. Value each possession, be strong catching the ball and going up for close in shots. Don't make weak passes or passes that are just a prayer because your teammate waves for you to pass it to her. Pass it to her when you know it is a pass that can get to her. Play Smart.

6- I like games like today and probably tomorrow. It is a chance to compete. We just need to realize that a victory against either of these two teams in a real game would be a close game and the team that makes the least mistakes both on offense and defense is going to have the best chance in the end. Think about it as a warm up for the conference championship game, it could be that type of game. If we can make it a game with our Varsity Girls we can play with anyone on our schedule. Take it as a challenge to get better.

We can be a very good team but it is going to take both physical and mental efforts from every player to get there. No real good team is going to give us anything easy. Lets build on what we can become and what we need to do to be the best we can be.


Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together.

Thought: For a learning experiece to really be of any value you need to make sure you learn something from it.

Coach May

PS- we will try the boys again during the year. I was impressed with them but we still should have made it more of a game and I think we can down the road. Hopefully, it was a good learning experience.(ie:meaning we learned something from it)

Washing Instruction for JV Uniforms.

Hi Girls and Moms,

We will be passing out uniforms in the next day or two. As of right now we only have 13 jersey's but that is being worked on by Coach Herman. These are the recommended washing and drying instructions to keep the uniform looking nice and from possibly coming apart.

BTW: The uniform jersey is reversible, white and green. White at home, Green on the road.

1- Wash in cold water and on the Gentle cycle.

2- Do not put in the Dryer. Either hang it on the line or somewhere in the house.

I will post more info after we meet with the girls about it, such as shoe color, sock type and color etc.

Coach May

2010 Halifax Academy JV Girls Basketball Roster

Hi Girls,

Listed below is our 2010/2011 Roster and primary and secondary positions for now. Primary position is listed first.

Mer Stephenson 5, 4.
Emily Conner 4, 5.
Jamie Harris 3, 2, 1.
Alex Darnell 2,3.
Lindsey Pulley 1
Jordan Jean 2,3.
Meg. Kessinger 1,2
Kelly Williams 5
Meg. Mohorn 1 or 2.
Kaela Dickens 4, 5
Kim Shearin 3
Leslie Tudor 4
Cath. Garner 1,2.
Emily Alston 2, 3
Brooke Roberson 3 or 2.

Congratulations Girls, lets have a great year!

Things you need to focus on improving as individuals:

1- Making lay ups. The most basic way to score. Make yourself good at it. Work on it on your own.

2- Making foul shots. Almost the same list as above. Work hard on it. Maybe 50 shots a day with the # of makes going up everyday. As a team we should be making 60% of them in games, that means some of you need to make 75% to pull up the team average.

3- Dribbling: Dribbling fast: Dribbling while seeing the court in front of you.

4- Passing: make the easy pass, the ones you are the most capable of making but make sure you make it a near perfect everytime even in warm ups and drills as you can.

5- Defense: know where to be and do your job. Take pride in playing defense and playing it hard. Defense equals 5% knowledge, 95% effort, hustle and focus.

Thing you might have noticed.

1- We practice hard.
2- We practice as fast as we can.
3- Every drill we can make into a competition becomes a competition. Lots of times the competition is with me and the reward is a pass not to run. Lets try our best to do good. What is the most common trait between Michael Jordan and Tyler Hansbrough? Roy Williams and Dean Smith say it is they were so competitive. They wanted to win every drill and every possession.
(Yes, we have copied much from their practices) There is something to be learned from loving to compete. It does not mean you don't love your teammates or hate your opponents. On the court competion is fun. If you win don't brag, if you lose congratulate your opponent and go practice on getting better and give it your best next time.
4- Every second on the court is valuable. We only get about 70 min of practice time per practice, we need to make the most of them.


Thought: Hustle, Determination and Focus make up for many disadvantages in a basketball game. John Wooden former UCLA Head Coach and the winner of 11 college National Championships.

Coach May

Tryouts JV Girls Basketball 2010/2011

Hi Girls,

All girls interested in playing JV Girls Basketball be at the Gym on Monday November 1 in your basketball practice gear. All Girls trying out MUST have a physical on file with Coach Herman to try out. State Law.

Girls 9th grade or below be at the Gym and on the court no later than 3:20 pm. Practice will end as usual at 4:30 pm Sharp.

10th graders will need to report to Varsity Girls Practice at 5:45 pm (you need to double check this time). If the varsity does not need you, you will be sent back to the JV team Tuesday. You are welcome to attend both practices if you wish.

We have quite a few names on the sign up list. We will try very hard to make the team cuts quickly and all at one time. I greatly wish there was a girls middle school team at our school for those that we do not have a uniform for this season.

See you Monday! Please share this information with all the girls trying out.

I expect our team to have a great season! Come ready to build on last year.

I look forward to seeing you all.

Coach May

First day of Practice 2010/2011

Hi Girls,

Monday, November 1, 2010 is the first day of official basketball practice. I look foward to seeing what our skill set will allow us to do on the court this season.

Our goals are always:

1- Play Hard, Play Smart and Play Together.

2- Play great defense. Defense wins championships.

3- Create offense by stealing the ball from our opponents whenever possible.

4- Pushing the ball down court and looking for the easy basket before the other team has set its defense.

5- In the half court offense looking inside for a shot close to the basket first and back outside if nothing is available.

6- Getting to the foul line and making the shots and not fouling the other team. We want to score more points from the foul line than our opponents attempt.

7- Be a great rebounding team. More baskets in girls basketball are scored on offensive rebounds than any other way. Last season we did not get our share.

8- Never ever be out hustled.

9- Always being prepared.

Thought: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. John Wooden, UCLA Coach 11 national championships.

Coach May

Individual Summer Practice

Hi Girls,

I have the stats on turnovers but I cannot find them. When I do I will post them. One thing to remember is the players that handle the ball alot have alot more opportunities to make turnovers. Players that only have the ball in their hands for a few seconds at a time should not have a high turnover percentage.

At UNC they calculate turnovers based on minutes played. So many turnovers per minute. I guess I could do this but it would be somewhat of a guess since we do not track that stat.

If any of you girls would like for me to email you the list of things you should work on for next season and for your future basketball developmentto work on over the summer you can email me at bmayunc@earthlink.net and I will email it back to you. This way it stays between you and me. If you want to talk about it that is fine but due to the nature of working on areas to improve I think it is better to handle it like this rather than publish it on this blog.

BTW, I do not think it will be anything on this worklist that will surprise anyone and it is certainly not intended to hurt anyone's feelings. Everyone should try to enhance what we do good and improve the weak areas to become a more complete player or as the case maybe to match our skills to the position we are best suited for.

Rabbit is planning to put in our pressure defense or maybe some form of our pressure defense for next years Varsity. It will be fun watching the girls I have sent to the Varsity play the style they were good at during JV.

Thought: Failing to prepare is Preparing to Fail. John Wooden 10 National Championships UCLA.

Coach May

Blocked Shots & Deflected Passes 2010

Hi Girls,

Here are the stats for this past season on Blocked Shots and Deflected or tipped passes. I thought it was interesting that every player at basically every position seemed to be pretty good at blocking shots. This was another area that the team excelled.

Blocked Shots:

Lindsey: 17

Jamie: 17

Emily: 15

Lindy: 15

Jesse: 9 (This includes the likely game saving block on the last play @ St. Davids)

Caroline: 4

Renee: 4

Mer: 3

Jordan: 1

Casey: 1

Alex: 1

Team Total: 83 Signs of a remarkable agressive defensive attitude. Great Work! Almost 4 per game on average as a team.


Deflected Passes:

Jesse: 12

Lindsey: 10

Caroline: 7

Jamie: 6

Lindy: 5

Mer: 5

Alex: 3

Emily: 3

Casey: 2

Jordan: 1


Team Total: 54 As you realize we deflected lots of other passes but if we pick it up it is a steal.
Only those that we tip and do not gain control of make it on this list.


Final Thoughts: You have been a wonderful group at creating defensive pressure. Every time we block a shot or tip a pass or force a turnover it demoralizes the other team. I could see it on the face's of most of the teams we played. They looked like they reached a point they wanted to be somewhere else.

We had very good athleticism and speed on this years team. Next year for us to be as good at pressure defense some players that were really good this year will have to be even better and some girls earning the minutes of the departing 10th graders will have step up their games and their conditioning big time for us to be as good. It is hard work to play tough in your face deny defense for 18 to 22 minutes per game.

Never forget that great defense wins championships. Playing great defense has a lot to do with skill, effort and hustle but it also has a lot to do with attitude. If you do not have the attitude that is required to keep playing hard all the time and stay focused you will not be a great defensive player.

Thought: Your attitude determines you altitude. Dean Smith, UNC. In other words you attitude bottom line determines how high you go and how good you will be. A poor attitude on defense is always easy to spot out on the court. They are the one's not playing hard.

Next up: Turnovers and Final thoughts about this past season and maybe some thoughts about next season. It might be a little while before I post these year end thoughts. Thanks to all of you girls and your parents for all your efforts in making this year a great season. Ladies, never forget to tell your parents how much you love them and appreciate all their efforts on your behalf. We don't go very far without them.

The Athletic Banquet is scheduled as of now for May 21, 2010. If I do not see you before then I will see you there. I plan to come and watch one of your softball games and soccer games this spring. Don't forget to Work hard in school the remainder of this year, it pays off.

Stay Sweet, Play Hard, Play Smart and Play Together plus work on your games when you have some time.


Coach May

2010 Season Assist Totals

Hi Girl,

An Assist is defined as a pass that leads directly to a basket. There are lots of great passes that the shot is missed or the receiver of the pass is fouled while shooting and scores points on the foul line. These don't count as assists. In the UNC system if the pass leads to a foul shot the team stats reflect it as an assist. However the official scorers at college and pro games do not recognize it. In a perfect world and if we had tapes of every game we could study we should possibly have a category for good passes that were not assists but could have led to the the next pass and the basket. Maybe one day we will have that capability at our school.

Assist Stats:

Lindsey: 49

Jamie: 39

Jesse: 22

Lindy: 16

Emily: 14

Mer: 6

Caroline: 5

Jordan: 4

Caitlin: 3

Casey: 2

Alex: 2

Renee: 1

Megan: 1


Team Total: 164

Team Average: 7.1 per game.


Final thoughts: The PG should be your leader as far as assists go. The plays all run through them plus they have assist opportunities on all baseline inbounds plays. The wings have the second best opportunity for assists due to fastbreak opportunities and they have the best opportunity to feed the low post from the sidecourt.

I personally think our assist totals were a little low. I think over 10 per game would be more like what we should expect. Of course we do not want any player to pass up a lay up for another lay up but we do want our players to share the ball if another player has a better chance to score.

In general we did a pretty good job with assists but I know for a fact we could have done better. Too many times we made passes that were just not as good of a pass as it could have been. By the time the player reached and got control of the ball the scoring opportunity was no longer there. That is why we need every player on the court to be very good at passing the ball and seeing the court. It is a simple skill and doing it well becomes a habit.

In college 2 assist to every turnover is the minimal assist to turnover ratio you want from your PG. At our level I think 1 to 1 would be an exceptional ratio, but I also know if we shot better Lindsey would have had quite a few more assists than she did. Same for the other wings. On the other hand I know we have the talent to be even better.

Remember the saying For those that much is given much is expected in return. Well basically it means the Good Lord gave you the talent and ability to see the court and pass the ball better than most of the girls you play against maybe any you play against, so therefore it needs to be your focus to be the best you can be at doing it. Don't settle for being good enough, push to be real good, the best you can be. Set a high standard for yourself. It is simply as case of making a commitment to yourself that you want to be not only good but real good at passing the ball and this applies to every player that ever gets on the court.

These little commitments to yourself not only will make you a better player and your present team a better team it is the first step to making the future teams you will play on great teams.
I for one think you girls have the ability to make Viking Basketball really good if you will just want it bad enough. We will never however get there unless you girls at this level make the commitment to take your games to the next level. Every player needs to step up. Basically it is mostly mental discipline and expectations of yourself.

Thoughts of the Day:

Dreaming of reaching goals without putting in the necessary focus is just Dreaming, but dreaming of reaching goals with the required focus, effort and hard work is how dreams become a reality. Bob Rotella, famous Sports Phycologist

Great opportunities come to those that make the most out of small ones. Dean Smith, UNC.

Next up: Blocks and Deflected passes for 2010.

Coach May

2010 Steals

Hi Girls,

I think the best thing we did as a basketball team was being able to pressure the other team creating the opportunity to steal the basketball and create easy shots for ourselves. The 24 defense is a great team defense and it took advantage of our overall team speed and quickness, especially the speed and quickness of our 3 perimeter players.

When we executed it correctly to me it was a thing of beauty. As we talked about sometimes it took awhile for the other team to meltdown but more often than not as we kept the pressure up the other teams would eventually lose their wills to win and basically give up. All I can say is I give you the players a giant congratulations on your ability to execute this defense. It took a tremendous amount of heart and energy to make it work as well as it did. It was definitely fun to play and fun to watch. Great job!

Stats:

Jamie: 90

Jesse: 82

Lindsey: 66

Lindy: 43

Emily: 29

Caroline: 17

Mer: 12

Casey: 10

Alex: 10

Caitlin: 6

Megan: 4

Jordan: 3

Renee: 1

Team Total: 373

Average Steals Per Game: 16.2


Final Thoughts: Pressure defense, our calling card. I have not looked it up but I am certain 373 steals for the season and 16.2 steals per game is a team record during my tenure. It probably is a conference record. With 16 steals leading to probably at least 6 or 10 baskets per game on lay ups it created over half of our offense came from our defense. If we had scored everytime we stole the ball we would have averaged 32 points per game just on steals. That is why being good at 24 Lockdown was so important to us. It was also important for us to be equally as good making lay ups and making good passes in the open court leading to making even more lay ups.

On Individual notes. I think Jamie with 90 steals has the individual record for steals in a season. Right behind her was Jesse with 82 steals and Lindsey with 66 steals. They formed an unbelieveable pressure combination and that is what made us so good. There was essentially no place to hide for the opponent, there was no weak link to attack.

Also Lindy did a great job of covering back and still contributing 43 steals from the 5 position. Very few times did we get beat after gambling allowing the other team to break us down for an easy lay up. Also, Emily did a nice job using her long arms and quickness making steals and covering her man creating a total lockdown for the opposing team. Plus we got good contributions from the bench. Great defense is always a tremendous Team Effort. If there is any single player not doing their job the defense will not work. You are only as good as your weakest link on any given possession.


On a single game note, Lindsey has the team record with 13 steals in one game. Jamie is second with 10 steals in one game and Jesse is in 3rd with 8 steals in one game. Good work girls.

Be Proud of Yourselves. We might go a long time before we see a team that is as good as this one was at playing pressure lockdown defense. That will be the challenge for next years team to see if it can be as effective as this years team playing defense and to find other area's of the game it can improve on to make the team even better.

Thoughts to have a better team by:

There is no glory in defense, just Championships. Morgan Wooten, All Time winningest High School Coach.

Don't play defense the way you like to be guarded, play defense the way you hate to have someone guard you. Bobby Knight, All time winningest college coach

Teams with skill make good teams but teams that play with skill and heart make great teams.
Dean Smith, Hall of Fame UNC Coach

Next up Assists.

Coach May

Final Stats Rebounding Defensive/Offensive

Hi Girls,

These are our rebounding totals.


Stats:

Lindy- 142 (92/50)

Jamie- 89 (56/33)

Emily- 68 (47/21)

Mer- 59 ( 41/18)

Jesse 56 (35/21)

Caroline 50 (38/12)

Lindsey 36 (28/8)

Alex 23 (16/7)

Casey 5 (3/2)

Caitlin 4 (3/1)

Renee 3 (3/0)

Jordan 2 (2/1)


Final Thoughts: A team that can dominate the boards has a huge advantage. Basically since we alternate possessions in basketball after made baskets and on jump balls the predominant way to give your team an advantage at winning the game is to get offensive rebounds and steals. The reverse side of this is we also need to get defensive rebounds which means we do not allow the other team to have many offensive rebounds/second chance points and we need to not turn the ball over (or let the other team steal the ball from us).

I always think about the fact that in girls basketball more points are scored on offensive rebounds than any other shot at least supposedly according to statistics. I really do not think we got our share of offensive rebound points. As a matter of fact, we got most of our points from steals, which is wonderful. However if we were equally as good at rebounding we would have been even better as a team and if we can mix in making a high percentage of foul shots better yet. Just look at the final stats in all categories and think about it. Also think about things you could do to move up the chart in each area.

Rebounding is a combination of good hands and size/reach and positioning but it is also at least equally determination, hustle and heart. Lindy was by far our leading rebounder and she is slender. She worked hard for the ball. She recognized that rebounding was her responsibility and she accepted the challenge.

Jamie our second leading rebounder is not that tall, but she has all the other skills and as we have all noticed, when the ball is somewhere close to her she thinks it should be hers. In my opinion nothing could be better than to have 5 girls on the court all the time that had that same attitude. Same thing for loose balls on the floor. You have got to want the ball and you have got to go after it. If you hesitate, the ball is gone. You need to think the ball is yours.

The one player on the court that gets a pass on rebounding for the most part is the PG who has back responsibility to not allow the other team to get run out lay ups and fastbreaks. When the PG drives to the basket the 2G takes that responsibility.

Practice putting the ball off the glass and grabbing the ball strong and going back up strong and scoring. Do it over and over. Also practice grabbing the ball at the top of your jump coming down strong bring the ball to to under your chin with two hands and pivot to get yourself away from the defender and make an imaginary two handed overhanded outlet pass. Sharpen you skills, Defense and Rebounding win championships.

Thought: Hustle, determination and focus make up for many disadvantages in a basketball game. John Wooden UCLA Winner of 11 National Championships.

Next up Steals!


Coach May

Free Throw Percentage's

Hi Girls,

This is not a pretty picture:

Team FT%: 73/226 32.3% We actually shot the ball better from the field than we did at the foul line. They call them Free Throws for a reason. We let 156 points not including possible 1 and 1's slip thru our fingers. If we had made just 50% from the foul line we would have scored 40 more points than we scored. For certain enough to have allowed us to win all the close games we lost. Practice, Practice ,Practice. You cannot be good without good form and lots of practice.

Casey: 2/2 100%

Lindy: 21/40 52.5%

Jordan: 1/2 50%

Caroline: 5/13 38.5%

Jamie: 24/69 34.8%

Jesse: 5/17 29.4%

Mer: 5/17 29.4%

Emily: 6/29 20.7%

Alex: 1/5 20.0%

Lindsey: 3/20 15.0%

Renee: 0/2 0%

Final thoughts: The summer after my sixth grade I went to basketball camp at Campbell College. One of my dorm counselors was Pistol Pete Maravich, then a high school senior. We got to know each other a little since his room was across the hall. One day at the gym as the bus for the kids was loading up he challenged me to a foul shooting contest. With about 50 kids my age cheering I made my first 7 shots. Everyone said , wow you are going to beat Pete Maravich. Well Pete ran out of time before he missed and stomped me real bad. Want to guess how many he made in a row without a miss? 144. I kid you not.

Make it a game for yourself. Try to make 5 in a row, then shoot until you can make 10 in a row. Trust me, there are lots of guys that can make 20 straight and not even think about it.

Proper form, lots of repetitions = Perfect Practice.

50% is my minimum shooting percentage for foul shooting at this level and I personally think that might be too low. Think about how many more points per game you might have scored if you made 80% of your foul shots. How many more games would we have won? Work at it, make yourself good at it.


Thought: Kites don't rise against the wind. Learn to do it the right way, there are proper ways to do things, don't get caught up in I want to do it my way when your coach or your teacher tells you to do it another way. Thats trying to fly your kite against the wind, it just will not fly.

Next up: Rebounds, Defensive and Offensive.


Coach May

Final FG% Stats for the season.

Hi Girls,

I have already posted the scoring stats for the past season here are the very important FG% stats. As you know the more points you score the harder it is for the other team to beat you.
Basketball is basically get good shots and make them and keep the other team from getting good shots by stealing the ball away from them and playing great defense.

FG%: Team; 257/764 33.6% The minimal for winning is 33.3%.

Lindy: 44/111 39.6% (Our post players should always shoot a good percentage)

Mer: 17/45 37.7%

Jesse: 52/139 37.4%

Lindsey 33/91 36.3 %

Jamie 59/172 34.3 %

Caroline 8/29 27.6%

Emily 17/63 26.9%

Casey 8/30 26.6%

Alex 13/53 24.5%

We used 20 shots attempted as a minimum base for getting an accurate number for FG%.

Renee 5/8

Caitlin 1/4

Megan 0/7

Jordan 0/12

Some thoughts:

It has been well established that 33.3% from the field was the minimum Winning FG% for play at our level. Ideally we would like to shoot at least in the 40's as a team. In order to do this we would need everyone to improve and the best shooters on the team to shoot 50% or better to balance up the worst.

Basically everyone needs to go up. The leading FG% players are normally those that play close to the goal. The more outside shots you shoot the harder it is to keep your FG% high. Example: In college 33.3% of three point shots is considered pretty good, while 50% is good for two points. Also the players that attract the most defensive attention(players the other teams want to stop) and are forced to try and make shots against good defensive teams like Cary and Parrott will shoot a lesser percent.

Everyone on this team needs to improve their shooting, If you are below 33.3% you need to focus on shooting shots that are more open or closer to the basket. Everyone on this team needs to focus on making lay ups and short shots around the goal. If we average as a team 35% or better we probably would have come in first place in the conference. If we made 40% of our shots we might not have lost to any private academy. As I said , every player needs to improve their shooting ability. As a team and as individual players we need to make shooting the ball better priority one.

Basically the way to improve your shot is to work on shooting the ball with proper form. This has been discussed at lenght during the season. Perfect Practice, 50 shots per day with the proper form this summer would help alot. College players usually do 300. Tyler Hansbrough shot 300 everyday before practice. Better shot selection, every shot is not a good shot. Learn to make Lay ups. If we had made all our lay ups we might have shot 40% this past season. It would have been close.

We invested about all the time we could out of our 70 min. of practice time to making lay ups and shooting the ball better. If you really want to improve you need to practice on your own. Practice the shots you normally get in the offense and foul shots. Good Luck!

I will post the other stats later.

PS- Remember Practice does not make perfect, Perfect Practice makes Perfect. If you are doing it incorrectly you are just grooving a bad habit.

Balance, Eyes, Elbow and Follow thru. BEEF. Good balance, eyes on front of the rim, shooting elbow under the ball and follow thru with a good wrist snap and full extension of the shooting hand. Watch the rotation of the ball if it does not spin backwards you most likely do not have good shooting form.

Most shooting errors occur due to not letting the supporting hand(left for everyone except Caitlin) drop off the ball before the shooting hand releases to the basket.

Right now is the time to take your shooting the ball to a higher level. It is the off season and you are all young enough to work on better form to come back as better players next season and the rest of your career.

Coach May