Chippewa

December 30, 2010

Central Christian 29

Chippewa 44

A good defensive effort/ execution in the half court game and improved focus on finding the ball to get the rebound are the highlights in our loss to Chippewa. One of our goals was to improve our game-time shooting, especially in the first half in comparison to several previous games; in this area we can claim a measure of success, 6/21 on field goals (29%) and 6/8 (75%) from the line. As we improve our shooting percentage so will the opportunity to win games.

Our inability as coaches and players to solve the Lady Chipps scrambling defensive strategy led to the decisive factor in the outcome: 34 turnovers on 70 possessions! Quite frankly it is amazing that the game was close as it was. Chippewa converted several of our TO’s into easy scores in the decisive 3^rd quarter.

We fell behind early primarily because of seven TO’s on our first 10 possessions before settling on a 9-14 first quarter score. The Lady Chipps pushed out to a 22-9 lead early in the second quarter; it would have been easy for the team to simply play with a here-we-go-again attitude. Instead, we closed the half with a 10-0 run on eleven possessions. While we lost the game we may well look back at this moment in our season as a gut-check time that we play to win.

The opening minutes of the second half mirrored the first half: seven TO’s on our first 10 possessions and gave the Lady Chipps just enough of an edge to outplay us in the second half. We were down nine at the end of the 3^rd: 25-34. In the fourth we did not convert FG attempts into points scoring just four from the line. It appears we are still playing our way into game shape physically, mentally and with our basketball I.Q.

We shot 9/40, 23% from the floor and a season high 67%, 10/15, from the line. The rebounding edge went to Chippewa, 37-33, as we allowed 18 offensive rebounds; in part we had to adjust to rebounds coming off longer than usual.

Individually Sydney scored 8, Marissa 7 and Kelly 6. Jana had 7 steals; Kelly 3 assists to lead the team. Makena, 10, and Sydney, 8, led our rebounding effort.

We’ve been working to close the scoring gap from previous seasons and continue to make progress. As we improve our shooting percentage, sharpen our passing/catching game and reading the defense we will close the gap to create opportunities to grab the “W”!