On the day when we moved to #29 in the Sagarin ratings - our highest ranking ever - we traveled to Waterford Mills to play our first sectional opponent of the season, Bethany Christian. We only have three 1A teams on our schedule, all schools in our sectional, and I think we were expecting for them to go a little more quietly than they did. They gave us a good battle for two quarters, but a defensive adjustment and some red-hot scoring from Becky sealed the deal in the third quarter. We coasted in from there and finished another good week of play with a record of 6-1.
We talked in practice Friday about how Bethany wanted to slow the game down, pack the box with a 2-3 zone, and try to keep us from getting up and down the floor the way we had vs. Whitko and Wawasee. True to form, they dared us to shoot the outside shot and patiently tried to execute their halfcourt offense. We hit a couple threes, but not nearly enough to shoot them out of their zone. In addition, we only had one trip to the free throw line (we've averaged nearly 30 attempts/game on the season), so our halftime talk consisted of strategies to successfully handle this type of grind-it-out style of game. We know most teams are not going to want to try to run with us, so I expect to see more of this in the future. The nice thing is, we have so many offensive weapons and you're not going to shut them all down. Today was Becky's day, as she put up a career-high 16 points. Tab and Cassie were also in double digits, Paige was a point away with 9 and Bailey would have been there if she had gotten a couple more shots to fall (or gotten a couple calls around the basket). We're the #14 team in the state in offensive average, but I've been just as pleased in recent games with our defensive prowess, holding teams in the 30s the past three nights.
We also took some stock in our season today by looking at some of our earlier opponents. Mooresville, our only loss, is ranked #15 in the country in this week's USA Today poll. South Side destroyed 2A #1 Bishop Luers last night by 20. Wawasee won two games this weekend. Whitko bounced back with a good win last night. By any measure, our body of work has been pretty good so far, and we still have lots of room for improvement. Even though a game like this one today may seem like a bit of a step back, it really just gives us a little more experience in playing different styles, an important part of our stated goals as we prepare for the post-season. At the end of the day, it was still a 31-point win, and that ain't too shabby.
The girls will take a brief hiatus now for Exam Week, something that kids at most schools will not endure, at least to the degree Canterbury students do. It takes a lot of preparation and concentration and basketball will rightly take a back seat for a few days. Then, it will be time for another sectional opponent, a rivalry game with Blackhawk Christian on Friday. At the end of a long and grueling week of testing, I hope the girls are ready to break loose on the basketball court and finish the first part of our season in style by earning their seventh win.
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