ALMOST

“Close but not quite there” seems to be the theme for the early part of our season.

First game we lost 44-42 and in first tournament we lost in gold medal game 55-48. Almost there but not the desired results. They say that “close only counts in the game of horseshoes and hand grenades” and I totally agree.

Now the first game was an exhibition game against a team made up of older players from various clubs. We played exceptionally well, considering it was our first game together and as a coaching staff we went with a 5 on 5 off substitution pattern to help us assess what the players have. Also many of the ladies we were playing had a good couple years’ experience on our players. As I mentioned earlier I was very pleased with the level of intensity the girls played with. It was also very nice to see how our new players were able to fit in right away and be contributors from the beginning. One of our top point guards was suffering from a severe chest cold and could only play for the first half. The comforting thing is the fact that we now have four point guards so having one go down now longer means the team is negatively affected. The ladies put on an impressive display of basketball as many of the parents voiced their optimism for the upcoming season. I was especially pleased with how balanced our team appears to be and the depth I had envisioned was apparent in this game. While we lost by two it went right down to the final play and we had our chances but failed to capitalize.

Our first tournament which took place two weeks after the exhibition game was far more successful in terms of results. Our first game was a great confidence builder but very hard to gauge our effectiveness as the competition was not near our level. Needless to say we easily won the game with a nice 40 point margin. The problems all coaches have with this type of game is the fear of bad habits coming in play. Fortunately the next couple games provided more competition and we were able to play our game. The next two games the ladies put an awesome display of our weapons as they were able to dominate both the inside game and hot shooting from the outside. Unfortunately we have yet to be able to bring both aspects to the same game and that is what hurt us in the final game. The gold medal game was an exciting game with both teams going back and forth and running the floor well. We were able to pound the ball inside and were rewarded with multiple foul shots. Our top post player turned her foul shooting game around and was 14-19 from the line. However, we were unable to put together a complete game as our shooting was not even near par. As a result, we missed a couple easy baskets late in the game and were unable to close the deficit.

The good news is that we will see the team we lost to again.

Also very impressive was the situation at the end of the game. After the medal presentations the parents were requesting a team picture. The players were reluctant to take a picture, as were the coaches, as they felt they didn’t win anything. This demonstrated to me that I have a very competitive group of young ladies who will not be satisfied easily.