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