Bi-District Playoff Game

We are so excited that we advanced to the state playoffs again this year; however, the game did not go as we had planned. Garland Naaman Forest is a great team that is well coached. However, they are beatable. We are a young team experience wise and we were rattled to be playing a great, experienced team and to be in a playoff game. Many of our girls looked like deer in headlights and literally were frozen in fear a few times. It was odd because they seemed ready for the game. We had gone over our game plan, we had scouted Naaman and were prepared to win. We wanted to stop their point guard who is a great player and recently signed with SMU. We limited her to 14 points... which is low for her; however, we let another player sneak in and get her points that she normally scores for her team.

We lost the first quarter 12-18 after starting sluggish. We had a great second half of the first quarter and went on a small 6-0 run.

We seemed to get nervous for some reason after we made a run and closed in on them some and went cold the second quarter. We lost 4-16. We threw the ball all over the gym, one turnover or mistake turned into five. We needed to settle down and relax. We knew there would be playoff jitters, but we did not realize how bad we would have them as a team.

Of the 13 we suited out; only 4 had played in our playoff games last year, and of those 4 only 2 had played major minutes. We had two freshman suited up and they were extremely nervous as well. DJ Sandidge really stepped up as a senior and played hard, left it all on the floor, and seemed to calm the waters some when she was on the floor.

After half time adjustments, Coach Matthews telling Kosi to get involved more, redirecting some of our passing decisions and shot decisions and a stern talking to; the girls came out strong and played hard. We only lost the third quarter 12-13. The second quarter was still plaguing us.

The fourth quarter we came out strong again, but we seemed to get foul after foul after foul called for stepping up our defense. They shot almost 30 free throws for the night to our 15. Not only did they get us in foul trouble, get to line, and get free throws; they also made almost all their free throws. In fact, the player that stepped up for the point guard shot 15 free throws alone... as much as our whole team, and she made 9 of the 15. They are great shooters and drivers and get teams in foul trouble easily. They really took care of business on the free throw line and defeated us 26-13 the fourth quarter. They only had 5 baskets, but they had a LOT of free throw attempts and makes.

We just started slow and scared and you cannot do that against great teams. We all have a playoff game under our belt now and I strongly believe we will go deep into the playoffs next year and gain valuable experience during off-season and summer play.

I am proud of the girls for dealing with so much adversity this year and making it to the playoffs. We dealt with everything imaginable and the girls never quit and always pushed when the going got tough. That is all I can ask for as a coach; that they never quit and go 100% all the time.

Notable Stats:
Hannah Wedding - 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
Kosi Ekwu - 11 points, 11 rebounds!!!, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 assist
Tierra Scott - 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 assists!!
Bridget O'Brien - 5 points, 3 assists, 1 rebound
DJ Sandidge - 6 rebounds, 2 points