Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Much closer

The Patriots traveled to St. John's Lutheran in Lansing tonight to take on Luther East. We weren't sure whether we would have a full team, as Alyssa's grandmother's wake was today, but she did attend the game before returning to the funeral home.

Scoring has been difficult for the girls this year, but not so much tonight. Luther East played a very tight zone defense and did not come out to cover the perimeter outside of fifteen to seventeen feet. So the girls shot from the outside. And shot. And shot. It was raining threes. And a few went in. More than a few, in fact. Out of the twenty-one launched, seven went in. [NOTE: Correction: the girls were eight for twenty.] However, Luther East had one very good player, both inside and out. Becca and Rachel tried to stop her inside, and each had three fouls before the end of the first quarter. Number 42, the good player had 13 of her team's 16 points in the first quarter. The Patriots spread things around a little more, with Kara and Alyssa each hitting a three and Cassidy had two two-pointers for four. Score at the end of one: 16-10, Luther East.

More outside shots poured down in the second. Not very many went in. Three out of twenty three, in fact. One was a three from Alyssa. Becca and Rachel each picked up their fourth fouls early in the quarter and sat down. This left open the inside and #42 took advantage of that. The Patriots were outscored 16-7 in the quarter, resulting in a halftime score of 32-17. #42 had 22 of the 32. Lee Bianchi, playing due to the foul trouble, hurled up several shots in the quarter and two went in.

The third was just like the first two, but now the shots started going in. The girls made three three-pointers in the quarter and a couple of twos and a free throw, but #42 kept knifing in for layups and rebounds. She scored eight in the quarter, her teammates got six and Luther East added a point to their lead, with the score at the end of three 46-30, the home team leading.

There were a couple of changes in the fourth; first, the Patriots put pressure on the ballhandler (#42) at half court, taking the ball out of her hands; and second, Luther East came out a little on our shooters. The Patriots solved that by swinging the ball to the weak side and still got open outside shots. The result was that the Patriots outscored LE 15-11 in the quarter. Not enough for the win, but enough to make it a decent game.

One interesting team stat for the game: the girls scored more in this game than the first three games combined. Individual stats: (note: there was a discrepancy between my scoring numbers and the gamebooks) Kara had twenty points, Alyssa had thirteen, Cassidy had eight and Lee had four. Alyssa led with nine rebounds, Kara had seven, Cassidy had six as did Rachel, Becca had four, Lee had three and Carolyn had two. Rachel and Becca had theirs in a little more than a quarter of play. Kara had eight assists and Alyssa had five. Alyssa had four steals and three blocks, and Kara had three steals.

I'm still trying to find a way to get the stats here. I'll keep working on this. Next game is Friday at Open Door Baptist against Victory Christian at 5:00 PM. Address is below in the calendar.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Different opponent, same result

Tuesday night the team traveled to Arlington Heights to take on the Christian Liberty Academy JV team. The game was a little different than the first two, but the result was the same, as the girls lost 31-11.

CLA was a very tall team. In the first quarter they used their height to their advantage, getting inside against the Patriots zone and making some easy baskets. They also ran their fast break very well, with strong passing. Our girls continued to struggle with their offense, and the first quarter ended 14-2 in favor of CLA.

In the second quarter, HSRC switched to a man-to-man defense, and it seemed to work pretty well. CLA got a little flustered and the Patriots were able to get some steals. On the offensive end, however, CLA flustered our girls by playing 1-3-1 zone, with strong pressure on the ball handler at the top of the key. We didn't seem to be able to get anything going except for one post-up basket by Rachel and a free throw by Kara. The score at the half was 20-5.

The third quarter saw both teams struggle on offense. CLA began to double team at the top of the key, causing more turnovers. Unlike the two earlier teams we played, CLA was more aggressive on the perimeter, and few outside shots were available. The girls began to find that the lane was open to drive, but they couldn't get some short runners and layups to drop. Kara made the only basket of the quarter for the Patriots, but they did hold CLA to only three.

The fourth was like the third, only some shots started to fall, mostly for CLA. Kara made one basket and Becca had a put-back for another, but they gave up eight in the quarter.

Kara led in scoring with five, while Rachel had four and Becca had two. The team shooting percentage was a dismal 12.5% (5 for 40). Rachel had seven rebounds, Becca had six and Alyssa had five. Kara offset her six turnovers with seven steals. Alyssa had three steals as well. Alyssa had three blocked shots and Kara had two.

I'm working on season statistic which I hope to somehow include here on the blog soon.

Next game is Tuesday, December 16 at 5:30 PM at St. John Lutheran in Lansing. (See schedule below for location).

Monday, December 8, 2008

Another tough one

The HSRC Patriots (official name) traveled to Sugar Grove to take on the Crossroads Crusaders, a team from an established homeschool sports program. And once again, the opponent's superior skill and experience were too much for the Patriots, who fell 48-20.

The game opened up with the Crusaders winning the tap and driving in for a fastbreak layup, which set the pattern for the whole quarter. Up and down the court they ran. Our girls seemed to get flustered easily, letting Crossroads tie them up often, and giving up the ball. The Patriots only got up four shots, all of which they missed, and at the end of one it was 20-0.

Crossroads brought in some subs for the second quarter, our girls settled down a little, and the second quarter was much better. Kara hit a couple of shots and Rachel posted up for another. The defense was better, as Crossroads shot 3 for 14 in the second quarter after shooting 10 for 18 in the first. Scoring was even in the quarter, 6-6, and the half ended 26-6.

Crossroads brought their starters back to begin the second half, and it showed in the third quarter scoring. Crossroads outscored the Patriots 17-4 in the quarter and the score at the end of three was 43-10.

In the fourth the girls got much more aggressive. Alyssa made some outside shots including a three, Becca made an inside one, and Kara hit on a free throw as well as making a score off of a drive. The scoring in the quarter was 10-5 in favor of the Patriots, for a final of 48-20.

Leading scorers were Alyssa and Kara with seven each, followed by Rachel with four and Becca with two. Leading rebounder was Becca with eleven; Rachel had five. Kara had three steals to lead the team while Becca had two. Rachel again led the team with three blocks. Shooting was 9 for 30, or 30%, quite an improvement from opening night's 18%. On the negative side, Alyssa had seven turnovers and Kara had four.

Tomorrow night's game is against Christian Liberty's JV team at 5:00 PM at their gym in Arlington Heights. See you there.

Oh and by the way, the schedule for the season is at the bottom of the page.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Opening night

The Crete Challenger or CHESS Patriot girls basketball team (I'm getting sick of these teams with two names) opened their 2008-2009 season tonight at Hinsdale Adventist Academy. This was the first game of any kind for three of the girls. All the rest have only played one season before this one. The inexperience showed as the girls lost, 41-12.

The girls had trouble getting into their offense right off the bat, and were tentative on defense. Hinsdale scored rather easily and often, and led after one quarter, 16-0.

Becca Dorn get the team going with a long bank shot early in the second quarter. It seemed some of the nervousness wore off and the girls got a little more aggressive. Kara Boss and Rachel Eizenga also scored in the quarter, and Coach Boss changed to a man-to-man defense which confused Hinsdale a little. The scoring in the quarter was even, 6-6, and the half ended 22-6.

In the third quarter, the girls seemed to regress in aggressiveness which hurt them both in offense and defense. The girls were throwing up some very long shots, none of which went in. Hinsdale shut out the girls again, this time 8-0 and the score at the end of three was 30-6.

The aggressiveness, especially from Kara, picked up in the fourth. They had a few fast breaks, only one of which they converted (Kara). Kara also hit a long three and Rachel got a free throw. The problem was they gave up eleven points in the quarter and the final score was 41-12.

Leading scorer was Kara with seven, followed by Rachel with three and Becca with two. Kara and Alyssa DeBoer each had seven rebounds to lead the team. Rachel had the only assist. Becca had two steals, while Kara, Rachel and Lee Bianchi each had one. Rachel had three blocked shots and Kara had one. On the negative side, Kara had eight turnovers and Cassidy Schaap had five. The team shot 5 for 28, 17.9 per cent shooting and one for five from the free throw line, 20%.

Next game is at 7:30 PM Monday, December 8 at Crossroads in Yorkville or some such place. Kristi will have the details in the next few days. There is also a game Tuesday at Christian Liberty at 5:00

Jessi Stas news

In case you didn't know yet, Jessi Stas made the Altitude Black U18 team as a hitter. Congrats, Jess!