SG D3 Basketball: Spartans Are Back!

To say we were nervous about Home Opener ’22-23 would be a serious understatement. Not only had we only had three legit practices, but our opponent – historically fast, intense and well coached – had already been practising for a month. The only things we really knew going in was some basic offensive spacing and what defence we were going to play. Other than that, the game plan was going to be “make it up – and learn – as we go along.”

 

Add to this the pressure of playing in front of the home fans and, yeah, the players were nervous. Which you could kind of tell when we missed our first four layups! But we’d only worked on defence in practice, and the good thing about defence is it doesn’t matter if you’re nervous. You just need intensity.

 

And boy-oh-boy did your Spartans bring the defensive intensity, with red & white jerseys literally flying around the court in a frenzied display of on-ball pressure, intelligent help and in-your-face hustle.

 

But what makes this coach even prouder is how aggressive we were for rebounds and loose balls. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a group this instinctively hungry and with such good hands. If the basketball was up for grabs, we did not hesitate, and we were rewarded with extra possessions, second-chance points and a distinct advantage on the defensive and offensive glass.

 

How about the offence? As expected, it was scratchy, but the spacing was good, we did some good things in transition, we took the right shots, and we were unselfish enough with the basketball that nine(!) different players scored on the way to this impressive 40-23 victory vs our Magog rivals – nice way to start the season!

 

Top 4 Plays Of The Game:

#4)   Rookie Emilia Stone’s back-to-back fast-break layups in one 30-second span in the fourth quarter.

#3)   Sara Paquette’s drive and dish to Camryn Moore, who calmly nailed the baseline jumper.

#2)   Hayley Wolfe’s picture perfect drop step post move (just like in practice!).

#1)   The prettiest pressbreak you’ll see, Maddie to Melissa to Hayley to Gloria to Siena, with all five players touching the ball for 2 points with zero dribbles.

 

Player Of The Game: rookie Henrike Kraushaar, who was a disruptive force, deflecting passes, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots and causing general havoc all game long with her athleticism and length. Welcome to Spartans basketball, Henni!

 

All in all, a positive start to the season, oozing with potential. But there is a loonnnng list of things to work on, not least of which is fitness (we ran out of gas and lost the fourth quarter 12-8).

 

So let’s get to work. 

 

Coaches Van Dyke & Wolfe