Girls Basketball: Smith Calls Defense Out, Says It Needs to Get Better

The Lady Raiders (4-0, 2-0 Southwest Suburban) figure to blow out most local opponents on the hardwood this season.

But that doesn't take away from the team’s sense of continual improvement in its .

One area head coach Anthony Smith wants to focus on is the defensive effort, even after his and .

Smith’s squad failed to put the Eagles away Tuesday night, letting them hang around 24-14 at the half. During the halftime huddle, Smith told his players to play with more defensive intensity.

“After the first few minutes of the first quarter, they hung their heads with the missed layups,” said Smith, whose team he said lacked intensity the first half. “Sandburg did a good job spreading us out and having us chase them around. My girls got tired chasing them around and not scoring to lack energy in attacking on the defensive end. That’s something we need to work on.”

Some players, like senior guard Keira Ray, had two quick fouls and was not able to play as aggressively as normal.

“It was my problem,” Ray said. “I didn’t get up on the ball hard enough. I needed more pressure.”

Against Lincoln-Way Central, Ray had 10 steals in the first quarter of action.

“I just anticipate the ball, being able to jump in front of the girl and read it before she crosses,” said Ray, who added her teammates swarm the ball during their transition defense. “It’s being able to know the game.”

Senior forwards Morgan Tuck and Cabriana Capers then turned it on in the third quarter, playing tough inside while making Sandburg senior forwards Kristen Bailey and Jen Pache shoot 1-of-9 in the second half.

“In practice, we worked on defense, especially in the post,” said Capers, who had an all-around game with eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks. “Morgan and I worked on that a lot. Defense wins championships.”

Sandburg head coach Chris Hellrung was extremely impressed with Bolingbrook’s defensive effort, as the Lady Raiders held his club to 7-of-35 shooting while forcing 22 turnovers.

“It’s tough in the halfcourt because they are constantly switching with pressure on the ball,” Hellrung said. “It makes it hard to seal and throw the skip pass. Unless you have a couple girls who are very good playing off the ball coming up to the basket, it’s going to be very hard to score against this Bolingbrook defense.”

Hellrung added how the Lady Raiders confuse opponents with fluidly switching defenders during a possession while putting games away by converting fast break points off midcourt steals.

“We did a pretty good job executing the game plan by moving the ball around, but once we got close to the basket, they started switching and we couldn’t get anything done,” he said.

While giving up 47 points in two games is impressive, Smith feels his team can definitely improve.

“Both of those games, though, should’ve been 10 to 15 points if we move our feet, close out, give them one shot and done because he have enough bigs that they should get offensive rebounds and put backs,” Smith said. “There are things we need to do better.”