CHARGED UP

We played Camosun College Chargers on Saturday. They easily won the Capilano Tournament handing a good Cap team a 30 point loss. They are playing really well. Their shooting the previous night against Kwantlen was outstanding, offensive execution excellent. They have been handling teams quite easily this year and look to be the front runners of the league. We watched their first half against Kwantlen and they looked very impressive. As I watched I tried to figure out a system that would work against their press. We have to use any team's press as our offense. Our eyes have to light up(not from fear) when we see a team press us. Who wants to set up a half court offense anyways? Especially ours at this time of the year. I challenged the girls before the game, I reminded them about how we felt after the Cap game. I told them that this is where we want to be.....playing one of the best teams in the league. I asked the girls to take it to Camosun and take what they could from them. We need to be Pit Bulls or Big Sea's(my Rottweiler) when it comes to challenges on the court. The girls stepped up big time. I don't think Camosun was quite ready. Based on their excellent man to man offense we went into a zone for most of the game. It really worked well forcing them into 35% shooting from the floor and 15% from the 3pt line in the first half. Offensively we got some great scores off the press but we did turn the ball over a ton.....29 turnovers for the game. As with most games it comes down to fundamentals, good ball handling and better passing. With their poor shooting we were down 18-15 after the first quarter. Our defense stayed strong in the second quarter but our offense went to catch a few waves in Tofino. We were outscored 12-2, down 30-17 against a great team at half. We were pretty happy. Well they found their shooting touch in the second half increasing their percentage to 55% 2pt FG(Field Goals) and 50% 3pt FG's. We only managed to score 15 points in the second half as we began to tire and lose focus. Final score....74-32. Nicola Hitchcock finally started to get comfortable offensively and was the high scorer along with Chelsey "Airmiles" Forsberg and Britt Harteveld with 8 points each. Nicola can play with anyone in this league. We need her to continue to become a force offensively inside. Her interior defense has been great and I thought for the first time she ran the floor really well. Hajia Sooria is really starting to improve at the point guard position as she gets comfortable with our offenses. Hajia's defense in the 2-3 zone was excellent and was the anchor throughout the game. We had a great day shooting from the line in the first half, 83%, but went 1-4 in the second half. We also rebounded a lot better as a result of their poor shooting, 31 for the game. 

This week we are getting ready for our game on Friday against Kwantlen. I had a great weekend with the girls. Road trips with them are fun and they always keep me on my toes. Breakfast at Floyd's was yummy, especially Britt Shalagan's Banana French toast which alone fed half our team. Allie Chalke is close to being ready to play. Having to sit beside me as the interm assistant is a motivating enough factor for anyone to get back on the court. Thanks to Bob Hitchcock for his support over the weekend. Congratulations to the men's team with their win over the Blue Angels on Saturday........coach Hann