The 2008-2009 season of the HSRC Patriots/Crete Challengers is in the books. The word of the season, I think, is "improvement". Even though the record didn't show it, the girls got better and better throughout the year, and probably finished with their best game of the year.
But first, let's review the opening game of the state tournament. As mentioned in an earlier post, we were seeded fourth so we opened against Gurnee HRK (Home Run Kids). This team has won all the state tournaments held to date, and we got to see why first hand.
They're really good. Like IHSA good. Like having a six-foot point guard good.
It's a really good thing the girls have improved as much as they have, or this game would have really been ugly. As it was, #15, the point guard, pretty much did whatever she wanted. Our girls played very aggressively, but these girls were so talented and played so well as a team, there wasn't much we could do. HRK also played very good defense, giving the Patriots almost no open looks, and got us so flustered that we didn't see the ones we had. They also pressed nearly continuously. The score at the end of one quarter was 15-2.
The second quarter was much better, at least on defense. A big part of the reason was that #15 spent most of the quarter on the bench, but that was not the only reason. Coach Boss switched to an innovative 1-1-3 defense, mostly to protect the baseline while still covering the 8-10 foot shot in the lane, which HRK hurt us with in the first. HRK's defense still was intense, but we did hold them to 1-for-13 shooting.
#15 came back in to start the second half, and when she wasn't hitting short jumpers and layups, she was making free throws. She scored ten of her team's twenty points in the quarter. HRK went to the line seven times in the quarter, hitting six. The Patriots picked up the offense a little themselves in the quarter, scoring six and none of them from Kara. Becca, Rachel and Lee each hit a shot to total the six. But it still was 39-10 at the end of the quarter.
In the fourth, HRK kept up their offense, even though #15 was on the bench most of the quarter. They hit six of fifteen shots and a free throw to get to their total. Our girls picked up another six, all by Kara. The final was 52-16. (NOTE: We did hear that HRK won the championship game, 40-12.)
Kara led in scoring with eight while Becca had four and Rachel and Lee had two each. Becca had nine rebounds, Alyssa had three assists and Kara had three steals. Alyssa, Becca, Rachel and Lee - yes, Lee - each had a block. Kara had eight turnovers. The Patriots shot 22% from the field while HRK hit at a 36% clip. HRK took 23 more shots than our girls. They also shot 18 free throws to our two.
After a short break, the Patriots face Appletree Kings for third place. Our girls started out looking tired and intimidated. Appletree had three girls that were at least 5'11" and they used that height to their advantage. They also had a good little point guard. We had a lot of turnovers (nine) in the quarter, and all this resulted in a 14-3 disadvantage at the end of one.
The second wasn't much better. Our girls hit one field goal out of nine attempts and one free throw (Becca). We "held" Appletree to only eleven. So it looked like another blowout, with the Patriots trailing by nineteen at half.
Now, I'm not sure if I recall correctly, but I think Appletree scored the first couple of baskets in the third, extending their lead to 23, but the girls started hitting some shots, seemingly inspired by Alyssa's three. Becca and Rachel each hit a shot, Kara hit a couple and the Patriots managed to shave one point off the lead to go into the fourth trailing 35-17.
Then in the fourth, Appletree stopped making their shots. Our girls started playing more aggressively (the refs were letting almost everything go). Kara hit consecutive threes and suddenly it was twelve-point game. After a lull in scoring, Rachel got a free throw and another basket, Kara got another one and the Patriots were back in the game, down only seven. Then the girls started having trouble getting shots off and turning the ball over. Finally the girls had to foul to get the ball back, and since they didn't really know how to foul while not making it look like they were trying to foul, it resulted in an intentional foul call. Appletree ended up making four of eight free throws down the stretch and winning by eleven, 39-28. That fourth was very exciting for those of us watching in the stands, and it may represent the best quarter they played all year. A very nice way to finish the season.
Kara had seventeen in the game, Rachel had five and Becca and Alyssa had three each. Becca had twelve rebounds, and shared the team lead in assists with Lee, each having two. Three girls got one steal and Rachel had two blocks. On the negative side, Kara had six turnovers, Alyssa had five and Becca had four. The Patriots shot 27% from the floor; Appletree shot 29%, but took fourteen more shots. They also took 13 free throws (making seven) compared to two of four by our girls.
Banquet on Thursday. I will recap the season after that, including extensive statistics.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Weekend of progress
The Patriots finished up their regular season this past Thursday and Friday with losses to Hinsdale Adventist Academy and Portage Christian School.
On Thursday, our girls returned to Hinsdale to take on the Hurricanes, against whom they began their season. The girls were interested to see how much they improved from that game, which they lost 41-12. And after the first quarter, the improvement was evident. Certainly on defense, as the Patriots held Hinsdale to one point while scoring four. But then Hinsdale found their offense. And then some. Hinsdale exploited the man-to-man defense our girls started out in with two quick baskets and floodgates were opened. With liberal assistance from the male half of the referee team, Hinsdale outscored the Patriots 18-4 in the quarter for a 19-8 lead. The aggressive play, especially by Number 0 of Hinsdale (who didn't score at all in the first meeting), continued in the third quarter and the score at the end of three was 29-11.
In the fourth, the female ref decided to make some of the calls the other should have been making, the girls started making some shots, and the scoring in the quarter was even at nine each for a final score of 38-20. The girls didn't run the plays well or pass well, so we can't pin it on the refs (as much as I would like to).
The Patriots lack of depth again showed, especially with the questionable refereeing. Becca fouled out and Rachel finished with four fouls. The girls did play pretty good defense, especially on number 33, who torched us for fourteen in the first meeting. She got only two this time on one for twelve shooting. Number 0, however, when she found out she could lower her shoulder and knock people out of the way, kept doing it while scoring fifteen.
The pace of this game was slower than most of the game this year, so rebounds were scarce. Also, while 33 didn't score, she did handle the ball well so steals also were hard to come by. Stats: Kara had nine points, Becca four, Rachel four, Alyssa two and Lee one. Becca had seven rebounds, Kara had three assists and two steals along with nine turnovers. Becca and Rachel each had two blocks.
On Friday night, the girls went out to the Courts of Northwest Indiana, in Valparaiso to play Portage Christian. We didn't really know anything about Portage, except that we had heard from Victory that one of their two six-footers who played for them last year was now playing for Portage. After the first quarter, we thought maybe this was going to be like the Luther East game. Portage played pretty packed-in defense and the girls shot over it. And a lot went in, especially threes. The girls make three threes and three two to total fifteen, while giving up twelve.
The Patriots started out strongly in the second, scoring the first six for a nine point lead. The fouls started adding up, however. Portage outscored us 8-4 in the remainder of the quarter to pull within five at half at 25-20. Worse than this was that Rachel picked up her third foul with about forty seconds left in the quarter. The other notable event in the half was the insertion of number 14 into Portage's lineup. This little seventh-grader was quite the pickpocket, stealing the ball repeatedly and going in for layups. She had thirteen of Portage's first half points.
Portage chipped away at the lead in the third, as our shots stopped dropping. After shooting 38% in the first half (good shooting for us), the girls shot three for fifteen in the quarter. The Patriots still led after three, however, at 31-29.
Because of foul trouble, Andrew had to play all of the junior high girls at the same time for stretches in the fourth. #14 kept up her thieving and scoring, getting eight in the quarter before fouling out. #24 then starting scoring, and we couldn't keep up. Portage outscored the Patriots 14-7 in the quarter and won 43-38.
Kara had thirteen points; Alyssa and Rachel had seven, Becca had six, Lee had three and Cassidy had two. Becca had fourteen rebounds and Rachel had seven. Kara had six assists and Becca had two blocks. Ballhandling was not prominent in this game; while Kara had eleven steals she also had thirteen turnovers.
State tournament is next weekend in Yorkville at Cross Lutheran School. As mentioned previously, we play Gurnee at 5:00. If we lose we play again at 7:00. If we win, we play on Saturday at 3:00. I have the location in the calendar event at the bottom of the page.
On Thursday, our girls returned to Hinsdale to take on the Hurricanes, against whom they began their season. The girls were interested to see how much they improved from that game, which they lost 41-12. And after the first quarter, the improvement was evident. Certainly on defense, as the Patriots held Hinsdale to one point while scoring four. But then Hinsdale found their offense. And then some. Hinsdale exploited the man-to-man defense our girls started out in with two quick baskets and floodgates were opened. With liberal assistance from the male half of the referee team, Hinsdale outscored the Patriots 18-4 in the quarter for a 19-8 lead. The aggressive play, especially by Number 0 of Hinsdale (who didn't score at all in the first meeting), continued in the third quarter and the score at the end of three was 29-11.
In the fourth, the female ref decided to make some of the calls the other should have been making, the girls started making some shots, and the scoring in the quarter was even at nine each for a final score of 38-20. The girls didn't run the plays well or pass well, so we can't pin it on the refs (as much as I would like to).
The Patriots lack of depth again showed, especially with the questionable refereeing. Becca fouled out and Rachel finished with four fouls. The girls did play pretty good defense, especially on number 33, who torched us for fourteen in the first meeting. She got only two this time on one for twelve shooting. Number 0, however, when she found out she could lower her shoulder and knock people out of the way, kept doing it while scoring fifteen.
The pace of this game was slower than most of the game this year, so rebounds were scarce. Also, while 33 didn't score, she did handle the ball well so steals also were hard to come by. Stats: Kara had nine points, Becca four, Rachel four, Alyssa two and Lee one. Becca had seven rebounds, Kara had three assists and two steals along with nine turnovers. Becca and Rachel each had two blocks.
On Friday night, the girls went out to the Courts of Northwest Indiana, in Valparaiso to play Portage Christian. We didn't really know anything about Portage, except that we had heard from Victory that one of their two six-footers who played for them last year was now playing for Portage. After the first quarter, we thought maybe this was going to be like the Luther East game. Portage played pretty packed-in defense and the girls shot over it. And a lot went in, especially threes. The girls make three threes and three two to total fifteen, while giving up twelve.
The Patriots started out strongly in the second, scoring the first six for a nine point lead. The fouls started adding up, however. Portage outscored us 8-4 in the remainder of the quarter to pull within five at half at 25-20. Worse than this was that Rachel picked up her third foul with about forty seconds left in the quarter. The other notable event in the half was the insertion of number 14 into Portage's lineup. This little seventh-grader was quite the pickpocket, stealing the ball repeatedly and going in for layups. She had thirteen of Portage's first half points.
Portage chipped away at the lead in the third, as our shots stopped dropping. After shooting 38% in the first half (good shooting for us), the girls shot three for fifteen in the quarter. The Patriots still led after three, however, at 31-29.
Because of foul trouble, Andrew had to play all of the junior high girls at the same time for stretches in the fourth. #14 kept up her thieving and scoring, getting eight in the quarter before fouling out. #24 then starting scoring, and we couldn't keep up. Portage outscored the Patriots 14-7 in the quarter and won 43-38.
Kara had thirteen points; Alyssa and Rachel had seven, Becca had six, Lee had three and Cassidy had two. Becca had fourteen rebounds and Rachel had seven. Kara had six assists and Becca had two blocks. Ballhandling was not prominent in this game; while Kara had eleven steals she also had thirteen turnovers.
State tournament is next weekend in Yorkville at Cross Lutheran School. As mentioned previously, we play Gurnee at 5:00. If we lose we play again at 7:00. If we win, we play on Saturday at 3:00. I have the location in the calendar event at the bottom of the page.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Tournament information
I have been scouring the Internet to find any information I can about our potential opponents at the state tournament. The only info I can find is about the Crossroad Crusaders, which we already know something about because we played them. Their record is 2-9, with one win coming against us in our second game of the season. They seem to be seeded either second or third, because I believe we are seeded fourth and, if they seeded the tournament conventionally, we open against the top seed. Gurnee is our opening game opponent, so that should make them the number one seed. Appletree from Lake Villa and Homerun Kids (Gurnee) do not have schedules or records posted anywhere that I can find. (I may contact them to get some of this information before the tournament.)
Someday I would like to act as a clearinghouse for information for homeschool and small Christian school soorts programs, for scouting and general information purposes. If anyone thinks this is needed or has any idea on how this might look, please leave a comment.
Someday I would like to act as a clearinghouse for information for homeschool and small Christian school soorts programs, for scouting and general information purposes. If anyone thinks this is needed or has any idea on how this might look, please leave a comment.
Monday, February 9, 2009
State tournament
We got notification of the brackets for the state tournament. This will take place February 27 and 28 at Cross Lutheran in Yorkville. We open at 5:00 PM against Gurnee. Gurnee beat us pretty soundly last year - but so did Victory, so who knows? Appletree plays Crossroads in the other semifinal. If we win, we play Saturday at 9:00. If we lose, we play right away again at 7:00. Should be fun. CORRECTION: We will play Saturday at 3:00PM if we win, not 9:00AM.
Argggh!
Pardon my pirate, but this was a heartbreaker. The girls dropped a very tough one to Kankakee Trinity Academy tonight, 33-30.
Last year, the girls lost to Kankakee 44-35, but were trailing at the end of three by seventeen. The girls were able to make up some ground in the fourth with KTA's best player on the bench. This year was quite different.
The girls seemed to have broken their habit of starting out very slowly, with this game being the second one in a row in which they started very strongly. Rachel was a rebounding machine right off, with six boards in the first quarter. She also scored the first point, from the free throw line. From there the girls went out to a 5-3 lead, but gave up the last four points of the quarter to trail, 7-5. The quarter was marked by Rachel's rebounds, a lot of turnovers, and some strange (and some deserved) traveling calls. KTA played a 1-2-2 or a 1-3-1 defense, but after some initial pressure at half court, they dropped off and played tight to the basket.
The second quarter was similar to the first, with KTA causing a lot turnovers and scoring some down low. The score was 17-9 before Cassidy hit a shot that bounced very high off the rim, rattled around for awhile and finally fell through as the half-time buzzer went off.
The third quarter was remarkable. The girls played frenetic defense, Kara made some shots in the lane, Becca made a shot, and Lee hit a three. Kara and Lee were getting some steals, Kara by playing the passing lanes and Lee by sneaking up and taking the ball away. The girls outsccored KTA 13-4 in the quarter and led 24-21 at the end of three. The Patriot supporters were very excited, anticipating a possible second victory of the season.
The open of the fourth quarter did nothing to douse the hopes. The Patriots scored four of the first six points in the quarter and led 28-23. Then KTA went to an intense full court press, which we had trouble with, especially along the sidelines. The girls also seemed to continue to be somewhat flustered even when they crossed half-court. The result was a lot of turnovers and nine straight points for KTA. After scoring to pull within two, the teams exchanged turnovers until Rachel committed her fifth foul. The hosts made one of two free throws, then cranked up the full court press which resulted in another turnover for the Patriots, and KTA was then able to run out the clock.
All in all, a very exciting game, one which really showed the improvement of the girls' play and confidence.
Kara led in scoring with 16, Rachel had five, Becca had four, Lee had three and Cassidy had two. Rachel had 12 rebounds and Becca had 11. Kara had three assists and five steals; Lee also had five steals. Rachel led with three blocked shots. I counted 23 turnovers; I probably missed some.
Luther East on Thursday at 5:30. The first one with them was wild; hopefully this one will be wild and successful. See you there.
Last year, the girls lost to Kankakee 44-35, but were trailing at the end of three by seventeen. The girls were able to make up some ground in the fourth with KTA's best player on the bench. This year was quite different.
The girls seemed to have broken their habit of starting out very slowly, with this game being the second one in a row in which they started very strongly. Rachel was a rebounding machine right off, with six boards in the first quarter. She also scored the first point, from the free throw line. From there the girls went out to a 5-3 lead, but gave up the last four points of the quarter to trail, 7-5. The quarter was marked by Rachel's rebounds, a lot of turnovers, and some strange (and some deserved) traveling calls. KTA played a 1-2-2 or a 1-3-1 defense, but after some initial pressure at half court, they dropped off and played tight to the basket.
The second quarter was similar to the first, with KTA causing a lot turnovers and scoring some down low. The score was 17-9 before Cassidy hit a shot that bounced very high off the rim, rattled around for awhile and finally fell through as the half-time buzzer went off.
The third quarter was remarkable. The girls played frenetic defense, Kara made some shots in the lane, Becca made a shot, and Lee hit a three. Kara and Lee were getting some steals, Kara by playing the passing lanes and Lee by sneaking up and taking the ball away. The girls outsccored KTA 13-4 in the quarter and led 24-21 at the end of three. The Patriot supporters were very excited, anticipating a possible second victory of the season.
The open of the fourth quarter did nothing to douse the hopes. The Patriots scored four of the first six points in the quarter and led 28-23. Then KTA went to an intense full court press, which we had trouble with, especially along the sidelines. The girls also seemed to continue to be somewhat flustered even when they crossed half-court. The result was a lot of turnovers and nine straight points for KTA. After scoring to pull within two, the teams exchanged turnovers until Rachel committed her fifth foul. The hosts made one of two free throws, then cranked up the full court press which resulted in another turnover for the Patriots, and KTA was then able to run out the clock.
All in all, a very exciting game, one which really showed the improvement of the girls' play and confidence.
Kara led in scoring with 16, Rachel had five, Becca had four, Lee had three and Cassidy had two. Rachel had 12 rebounds and Becca had 11. Kara had three assists and five steals; Lee also had five steals. Rachel led with three blocked shots. I counted 23 turnovers; I probably missed some.
Luther East on Thursday at 5:30. The first one with them was wild; hopefully this one will be wild and successful. See you there.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Good half, then not so good
The second trip up to Arlington Heights to play Christian Liberty was not as painful as the first, but the result was the same, as the Patriots fell to the Chargers, 22-13.
Back in December the girls took on Christian Liberty in the third game of the year. Our inexperience and nervousness were very evident in a 31-11 loss. That game could have been worse had not CL's coach played his bench extensively in the second and fourth quarter. This time he had to play his starters their usual time, going to the bench only to give them breathers.
This was not the typical Patriot game. Strangely, the girls were ready and confident right from the start, and kind of surprised their hosts. On the first possession, Kara got the ball down low, kicked it out to Lee who made the basket. Next possession, Kara hit a shot and it was 4-0, Patriots. This seemed to wake up CL, and they played tougher defense from this point. However, our girls were playing a very aggressive man-to-man defense and was making it difficult for them. Our only other score for the rest of the quarter was a put-back by Becca, while CL got a couple of baskets and a free throw - score at the end of one, 6-5 Patriots.
The defenses really tightened up in the second. After starting in a man-to-man, the Patriots switched to a very active 2-3, which was just as effective. CL's defense was very strong as well, as they double teamed at the top quite a bit, and put a lot of pressure on the ball handlers. Rachel got the only basket for us in the quarter, while CL also only got one, but made a free throw to make the score 8-8 at half. We shot 1 for 11 in the quarter and CL shot one for eight. It was more the defense than bad shooting that caused this.
The third quarter was similar to the second, except the teams made some adjustments to deal with the good defenses. The difference in this quarter was the shooting - CL made a much better percentage of theirs. They took less shots, as the Patriots got a lot of turnovers, but they shot 33% in the quarter while the Patriots shot 11%. CL scored six in the quarter to the Patriots two, and the score was 14-10 at the end of three.
The hustling defense of the first three quarters seemed to wear out the girls, as they made poor passes and were not quite as sharp on defense as they were earlier. The lid that seemed to be on the basket for our girls stayed there, and we made a lot of turnovers. The girls got one basket to go down, which was a three by Kara to begin the quarter to pull us within one, but that was the last score we would make. CL scored the last eight points for the final score of 22-13. All in all, a much better game for the girls than the first time we played them. Putting the ball in the basket was the issue for the girls. They shot 6 for 38, and 0 for 6 from the free throw line. Many of the misses were easy ones. If the offense catches up with the defense, look out.
Stats for the game: Kara led in scoring with five, while Becca had four and Lee and Rachel had two each. Becca once again led in rebounding with 11; Rachel had 7. Kara, Rachel and Cassidy each had an assist. Rachel and Becca had a block apiece. Kara had 7 steals. Alyssa, playing the point for a good part of the game, had six turnovers and Kara had four.
Kankakee Trinity Academy is next on the schedule. The game is Monday at six at the community center, address is below in the calendar. Hope to see you there.
Back in December the girls took on Christian Liberty in the third game of the year. Our inexperience and nervousness were very evident in a 31-11 loss. That game could have been worse had not CL's coach played his bench extensively in the second and fourth quarter. This time he had to play his starters their usual time, going to the bench only to give them breathers.
This was not the typical Patriot game. Strangely, the girls were ready and confident right from the start, and kind of surprised their hosts. On the first possession, Kara got the ball down low, kicked it out to Lee who made the basket. Next possession, Kara hit a shot and it was 4-0, Patriots. This seemed to wake up CL, and they played tougher defense from this point. However, our girls were playing a very aggressive man-to-man defense and was making it difficult for them. Our only other score for the rest of the quarter was a put-back by Becca, while CL got a couple of baskets and a free throw - score at the end of one, 6-5 Patriots.
The defenses really tightened up in the second. After starting in a man-to-man, the Patriots switched to a very active 2-3, which was just as effective. CL's defense was very strong as well, as they double teamed at the top quite a bit, and put a lot of pressure on the ball handlers. Rachel got the only basket for us in the quarter, while CL also only got one, but made a free throw to make the score 8-8 at half. We shot 1 for 11 in the quarter and CL shot one for eight. It was more the defense than bad shooting that caused this.
The third quarter was similar to the second, except the teams made some adjustments to deal with the good defenses. The difference in this quarter was the shooting - CL made a much better percentage of theirs. They took less shots, as the Patriots got a lot of turnovers, but they shot 33% in the quarter while the Patriots shot 11%. CL scored six in the quarter to the Patriots two, and the score was 14-10 at the end of three.
The hustling defense of the first three quarters seemed to wear out the girls, as they made poor passes and were not quite as sharp on defense as they were earlier. The lid that seemed to be on the basket for our girls stayed there, and we made a lot of turnovers. The girls got one basket to go down, which was a three by Kara to begin the quarter to pull us within one, but that was the last score we would make. CL scored the last eight points for the final score of 22-13. All in all, a much better game for the girls than the first time we played them. Putting the ball in the basket was the issue for the girls. They shot 6 for 38, and 0 for 6 from the free throw line. Many of the misses were easy ones. If the offense catches up with the defense, look out.
Stats for the game: Kara led in scoring with five, while Becca had four and Lee and Rachel had two each. Becca once again led in rebounding with 11; Rachel had 7. Kara, Rachel and Cassidy each had an assist. Rachel and Becca had a block apiece. Kara had 7 steals. Alyssa, playing the point for a good part of the game, had six turnovers and Kara had four.
Kankakee Trinity Academy is next on the schedule. The game is Monday at six at the community center, address is below in the calendar. Hope to see you there.
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