Streaks Post First Win

Galesburg came away with a 67-58 win. At first glance it does not seem like a huge "system" win- scoring only 67 points. But look at these impressive numbers-

79 field goals attempted (note we averaged under 50 in our last year of pre-system ball)
58 three point attempts (so far this year we now have #2 and #7 most 3's attempted in IHSA history)
49% offensive rebounds on our misses (yes, we had almost a 50/50 chance of getting our own misses!)
36 forced turnovers (our opponents are now averaging 40 turnovers per game)
32 more field attempts than our opponents (thru 2 games we now have 173 fga to our opp. 100 fga)

So we won by only 9 points with these impressive numbers. We again had a cold night from the three point line. We made only 12 of 58 for 25%.

Sadee Hamilton came up huge. She had 6 offensive rebounds, 6 steals, and 4 blocks. She turned the "back of the press" into the front of the press by constantly rotating up and getting steals. This past week, I had an email conversation with Coach Porter of ONU. He talked about trying to change the concept of the job of the back of the press, by not calling it the safety but rather the flyer. Sadee was most certainly a flyer tonight.

Megan Young was Megan Young. I am sure GHS has had some kids play as hard as Megan but not any harder. She claims she is 5'6". Because of an injury to Myra Diggins, Megan exclusively played in the post. She responded with 10 offensive boards. The is unbelieveable. But the highlight for her night was when an EP player had a clear advantage to a loose ball on the floor but Megan launched her body about 10 feet across the floor on top of the ball. Megan never plays anything other than 100%.

It is interesting to compare last year to this year. So far we have been so much better in terms of basic goals we must achieve-- offensive rebounds, field goals attemped, and forced turnovers. Our numbers in these areas are much, much better than at ANY TIME last year. We set a goal for individuals of 6 offensive rebounds and 4 steals. If they achieve either of those things, they make it up on our goal board. Last year we had games where no one reached these goals. Thru two games, we now have had 10 girls reach these goals.

Despite these positives, we have struggled some in our first two games. The major reason is that we are now 18 for 119 from three point range for only 15%. For us to have been in our first two games shooting this poorly is a tribute to the other great things the girls are doing. Jessica Howard and Mickey Rodriguez showed last year that they can shoot the ball. Jessica Lieber and Jamie Johnson have shown in practice how well they can shoot. A tough thing with this style if for the girls to get used to the pace. I am confident it will be just like last year, as we get used to the tempo of the game, our shooting percentage will go up.

Two critical things in this game were having only 12 turnovers and only 15 fouls. When we were playing with only about 60 possessions per game, 12 turnovers would have been great. Tonight we had about 106 possessions and only 12 turnovers. It is tough being a point guard in the "system", but tonight our three point guards- Tai Peachey, Paige Klinck, and Baylie Boyer were outstanding taking care of the ball.

Bottom line- the girls played hard!!