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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Great Night- Great Win

Streaks beat Alleman 68-38 tonight. This ended a 5 game losing streak to Alleman. It seems like it is feast or famine vs. Alleman. We have been 1-11 vs. Alleman since 2005. Before that we had won 25 straight games vs. Alleman dating back to 1992.



I don't know why it is, but Alleman and Galesburg seem like they have more in common with each other than the other WB6 schools. It makes no sense, they are private and we are public. But maybe it is because we are the two smallest schools in the conference. In the time I have coached, we have had different rivals, but over the last ten years, Alleman is the school we have had the most competitive games with. So for us to come out with a big win is really good for us. As much as they have improved over the last three weeks, we know it will be tough when we play them later at Alleman.

Our girls are playing pretty well right now. It is unbelievable some of the scoring streaks they go on in practice. It is exciting to be able to see them do the same thing then in games. After the game, it was nice to have the reporter from the Moline Dispatch acknowledge what we have all seen. He commented about how we seemed like so much better of a defensive team than a year ago. As I scout and watch last year's game, I would sure echo that.

Field Goals Attempted    (Goal 72)   70
Threes Attempted            (Goal 36)   43
O-Reb %                         (Goal 40%)  43%
Turnovers Forced            (Goal 26)    26
FGA Differential             (Goal +20)  +22

How do you explain we are a better defensive team? If we were playing traditional style defense, as a coach you would talk about the defenders relationship between man and the ball. In the system it is actually more complex (critics would claim we don't play defense), now we must focus on the ball, finding a man, and relating also to the basket. Jessica Howard is a great example of our improvement on defense. Coach Arseneault would probably say that a three point shooter like Jessica really should not invest much time on defense. In three of the last 6 games, she has gotten 4 or more steals. Tonight she got 5 steals. Why is that significant? She UNDERSTANDS our defense, she is shooting the gap and getting steals. Last year we seldom had individuals with 4+ steals per game, this year we have 15 players with 4+ steals. Most of them are players who played last year. It takes time to figure out what is going on. I would anticipate players like Paige Klinck and Rainee Sibley will make the same kind of jump defensively in the next month like Howard has.

The next area- offensive rebounding-- with what we are doing you have to get offensive rebounding. We have all watched enough basketball to know you have to have that tall athletic jumper to get the o-rebounds you need. So in girls b-ball you need that 5'10" jumping jack in the low post. So who got 5 offensive rebounds for us tonight? Our point guard Tai Peachey got 5 o-reb. Why can Tai get 5 o-reb at 5'6"-- because she is going to outwork the person guarding her. Each day in practice we drill on going to the o-bds. Tai has made it a habit, she goes to the o-bds every time.

Our three point shooters are shooting with a lot more confidence. It is exciting!!

Our point guards did a very good job of getting us into some action if we did not have a break.

And Sadee was very, very tough at the back of the press.

I hope the rest of you when you go to work on Friday get to work with as good of people as I get to work with. I have had good teams in the past but this is really, really a fun year. This group has good people who are fun to work with each day.

Tough game on Saturday at Maine South.

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