11/23/2009 11:45:00 PM Winter Season Prep Previews: High-pressure defense
a common theme for area's girls
Last season's Daily Courier girls basketball player of the year Paige Ramm, left, will help lead Prescott High this season. The Badgers made it to the Class, 4A, Division I state quarterfinals last February.
Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier(File)
The bigger local schools are coming off strong seasons in girls basketball, while the smaller schools have more room for improvement.
A common refrain from each and every team touches on two things: playing fast and playing tough defense.
Size is hard to come by, so everybody plans to turn defense into offense and outrun the opponent in some form. For some, they hope to ride that deep into state. Others simply hope to ride that towards the postseason and see what happens.
Here's a look at how all five of the local girls teams are approaching 2009-10:
Prescott - 21-5 last year, lost in state quarterfinals
The Badgers reached the second round at state last season before falling to the eventual Class 4A, Division I champion Oro Valley Canyon del Oro.
This year they realize that there is no time to waste when it comes to improving on that result.
"Last year we fell short in getting a home playoff spot by one seed and I think we learned some lessons as far as how important power points are," PHS coach Melissa Townsend said. "We had five losses total last year and of those five losses I'd say I can think of three of them were games we played very poorly in and it came around in the end and bit us in the rear."
That seed sent them to Tucson twice in three days. They lost by five to No. 1 Canyon del Oro in a game in which they committed 23 turnovers.
"Hopefully it gives us some confidence," Townsend said. "I think the girls really saw what they could do at the end of last year."
The goals this year are the same: win the region again, get a home playoff game, advance to the state finals and win it all.
Three starters return, not counting Taylor Robertson who tore her ACL over the summer. Her return later in the season is possible, but not something Townsend is counting on.
Senior point guard Carli Schiller will miss a couple of weeks after receiving stitches on a cut in her shin, but will soon be back with her 13-points-per-game average.
Fellow seniors Ginger Campbell and 2008-09 Courier Player of the Year Paige Ramm are also back.
"We got a lot of experience last year," Ramm said. "Obviously we wanted to make it a little bit farther but we gave it our best shot and with (three) starters back I think we can do really good this year."
Ramm said they have been doing more conditioning than last year.
"It will definitely be a big part of our running game so hopefully we can put that into effect and look to push the ball," she said.
Townsend is in her third year as coach and is noticing the comfort level with her players.
"One of the things I noticed at the beginning of this season was how much I felt that they're kind of getting it," Townsend said. "They're understanding what I want and they know what I like and don't like. I think they've kind of gotten used to me a little bit and we're not spending so much time on things that we had spent a lot of time on in the past. We're just trying to refine and make things better."
Bradshaw Mountain - 15-16 last season, lost in first round of state
The Bears said goodbye to eight seniors last season with a tremendous turnaround year.
Coming off a 6-22 campaign in 2007-08, Maury Ruble took over as coach and directed Bradshaw Mountain to a 15-16 mark. The Bears qualified for the 4A, DII state tournament, but lost by five in the first round at Douglas.
"The big thing was changing focus," Ruble said. "My goal was to try and get the group to let go of the past, work together and develop some things."
He said they found some things that suited their personnel. Despite losing those eight players, including point guard Christine Breecher, he thinks they may be ever better suited to show off their speed and athleticism and compensate for a lack of size.
"We're going to be very fast," senior Sarah Moore said. "We don't have any big girls. We're not big at all but we're all really, really fast. That's what we base our whole offense on is just running the other team to death."
Moore is one of two seniors who played varsity last year, along with Lindsay Tucker. Danielle Hernandez is the only other returning varsity player.
But Ruble said he's kind of gotten lucky with the chemistry of this year's team. They are all devoted and he expects to do even better.
"As we came into the summer I would never have expected what I'm expecting now after graduating eight seniors. And the eight seniors that we had were a really good group of kids last year. But I expect us to go even farther. I expect that we will be a stronger basketball team.
"...It's hard to explain, but sometimes things just fit together," he added. "That's what it looks like is happening right now."
They will rotate as many as 10 or 11 players and play full-court every second of the game. And Ruble says they have the tools to do it.
Two years removed from a six-win season, who would have thought state was a possible goal for the Bears?
"State for sure," Moore said. "We want to win state this year so bad. And beating Prescott."
Chino Valley - 6-21 last year, no playoffs
A third coach in as many years can be tough, but the Cougars are adapting well so far.
Before practice begins, the Cougar players sit in a circle at the side of the gym, getting ready and talking about everything, not just basketball. In the middle of the circle is new coach Kathleen Finlayson.
On the court, the new coach can get serious. And the players like that too.
"My first day of practice, we ran them really hard," Finlayson said. "I told them when I came out, we're running a mile, we're running hard, you've got to be in shape and you've got to be in condition.
"After practice I had a bunch of girls coming up to me going 'this is what we need, thanks so much.'"
That was music to the coach's ears. You won't find many returning seniors among the Cougars so Finlayson will throw some freshmen and sophomores into the mix.
"This year is more intense," said junior Raelyn Buckley, one of six returning varsity players. "She pushes us a little bit harder than last year."
Buckley said they are all versatile players that can play any position out there, though their shooting could be better.
But optimism abounds.
"I'm excited for this year," Buckley said. "I think we'll have a good season."
What is a good season?
"More wins than last year," Buckley laughed. "Improving is always good. Anything we can do to get better."
Mayer - 6-21 last year, no playoffs
Brett Smith has about 12 years of experience coaching boys varsity and junior varsity basketball in California and Oregon.
This year at Mayer is his first try at coaching girls.
"Coming from boys and never having coached a girls sport, it's definitely been a transition," Smith said. "Girls are sponges - they take in everything you throw at them and they definitely learn quicker than boys. They just react more."
The first thing he's noticed in his Wildcats is some athleticism he can work with.
"We've got a shot at being relatively successful," he said.
Mayer only has one senior, Sarah Mathern, and five juniors. Two of the better athletes on the team may be sophomores in Jessica Adame and Candace Smith.
Coach Smith said Adame is 5-foot-10, can jump and run. Candace Smith is also all over the place, which will work well with their aggressive man-to-man defensive approach.
"We're going to bring pressure, whether it's man-to-man, zone press or a lot of pressure halfcourt," Smith said. "Hopefully we're going to get to the point where we can push the ball up the court and have a structured fastbreak."
He jokingly said they may score just 21 points per game but hopefully will give up less than that. Seriously, he wants to keep teams in the 20s.
"I always tell the kids the sky is always the limit," Smith said. "You set your goals high and your expectations high and you've got a better chance of succeeding. We're going to take the floor everyday to win."
Orme School - 5-11 last year, no playoffs
Mike Schiesel, an assistant for the boys team the past two years, takes over the Warrior girls this season.
His "big three" will carry the load in seniors Ramona Coroban, Kim Brennan and freshman Hillary Dethmer.
"In terms of physical play, she's by far the most physical player I have," Schiesel said of Dethmer. " She boxes out like nobody's business and handles the boards very will. She's a nice surprise."
Coroban will play the point guard or the shooting guard. Schiesel doesn't want to tie her up at point because of her shooting ability. He said she is incredibly fast and should lead them to a lot of points on the fastbreak.
Brennan will control down low.
Schiesel wants to play up-tempo, put a lot of pressure on the ball and cause turnovers. He has a background coaching girls and has noticed one of the differences between them and boys.
"They're very detail oriented in as much as they just want to follow the play like a script," Schiesel said of girls. "Getting them out of that mindset - I don't care if the play breaks down, as long as the ball goes in the hole."
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Posted: Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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Hilary Dethmer from Orme is a Junior and so is Ramona Coroban
