Biddy C

EAGLES WIN!!!!

And they did it the old-fashioned way... hard work and tough attitude.

St. Augustine is such a tough opponent. And to beat a tough opponent, you have to be tough. (Wow, I've used the word "tough" 4 times already... oops, I used it again!)

Defense won this game tonight. Sure, we needed to score, and they made it really hard to do that, but it was our defense that made the difference.

One thing that won't show up in our stats tonight is steals. But I'm telling you, we had MILLIONS! Okay, maybe not millions, but we had lots. You guys were playing so alertly, so smartly, and so sneakily. Think about a steal for a second. It's like a blocked shot and a rebound all rolled into one.

We talked about helping on defense before and during the game. And you guys responded. Time after time players slid off their player and helped out on someone driving to the basket. It was beautiful to watch.

Obviously, we missed the girls who couldn't be there tonight. But you guys stepped up and played tons of minutes, and never stopped hustling. Big thanks and a round of applause for Jordan, who played 3 positions, including one she'd never played before. (And special thanks to her mom for the ice cream celebration after the game!)

[I added this way late, but a big thank you to Mr. Gallagher for helping out on the bench!] 

I could go on and on (and I know you know I'm serious), but let's check the stats:

Rebound leader: Sarah - 5 

I always say that the stats I write here don't tell the whole story, and tonight it's especially true. When there's only 7 of you playing, each and every one of you plays an important role and contributes to a victory. Congratulations, Eagles....it feels nice to win again, doesn't it? 

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Sometimes the shots just don't fall, Eagles. You work hard, make the right move, make the right pass, find yourself near the basket and put up your best shot, but it just doesn't go in. That happened so many times today. That's basketball. 

As I said after the game today, you guys played great. We were in this game practically the whole way. Their #25 is a terrific player. She's tall and can dribble, shoot and pass. She scared 18 of her team's 24 points! We were concentrating on stopping her, and she still scored! Next time we play them, we'll know what to expect. I know you can beat that team. I hope you know it, too.

There were some awesome passes today, girls...I was so impressed. Now we just have to figure out how to get our shots to go in! :-)

Here's some stats coming right at ya! 

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I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, so I'll try to keep this brief.

Sacred Heart is a team that really understood ball movement and spacing on the court. We can learn so much from the teams we play. We coaches are learning, too.

Basketball is much more fun when you're passing to open teammates and getting good shots. But it's a lot easier to say than to do, isn't it?

Since most of teams we're playing against are playing zone defense, most of our regular plays won't work, so we have to rely on our Zebra and Gap plays. We call them plays, but they really aren't. They're actually IDEAS or STRATEGIES. We're telling you how and when and where you need to move when the ball goes somewhere, and we know it's hard to remember those things when you're out on the court. 

What I LOVE about you guys is that you never give up, you never hang your head and you seem to have fun no matter what the score is. That attitude will take you far in life and no coach can teach it. 

We'll keep working on ways to improve and all I ask is that you come to practice ready to work at it. I'm sure you've heard this before: "Nothing worth having comes easy." Improvement comes through hard work, and it leads directly to more enjoyment of the game and a sense of accomplishment.

I said I'd keep it brief. I guess I lied.

On to the stats!

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I said I'd keep it short on the Sacred Heart summary and didn't do a very good job. This time, I really mean it! 

Today, we got beat pretty bad. There's no other way to put it. This was a team we beat earlier in the season and they came out eager to get back at us. And they did. They were quick to the ball. They passed and shot very well. They were aggressive.

For us, it always seems to come down to rebounding and movement, and today was no different. Defense is hard to play when the other team is getting 3 or 4 shots because they keep getting rebounds. On offense, good shots are hard to come by without movement, with or without the ball.

Even so, there were many encouraging moments in the game. I remember one play where we made 3 or 4 passes toward the basket to open teammates ending up with a great shot. Those rea the kind of plays that make this game fun to play.

Please remember that when we talk about needing more aggressiveness, we're not saying we think you're not trying hard. WE KNOW YOU ARE AND ARE PROUD OF YOU FOR THAT. (oooh, all caps...he must really mean it! Yep.)

It's stat time, baby.

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Another tough game against a very tough opponent.

We talk about aggressiveness a lot. It's a hard thing to teach. It has to come from inside each one of you. St. Ambrose out-rebounded us and they out-hustled us. That doesn't mean that you weren't trying hard. I know you were. It just means they were playing more aggressively and more alertly.

There are a lot of stats in every game and they don't always tell the whole story. But here's one that tells a lot: St. Ambrose was called for 13 fouls and we were called for 5. When you're playing aggressively, you're going to get fouls called on you.

Playing on such a small court was a real challenge for us. So was playing a team that plays in a higher division. And so was playing without Jordan and Katie. But those aren't excuses. We can only control the things we can control.

The small court made it hard to find open spots, but our lack of movement on offense didn't help. It made it very difficult to get shots. We'll just keep working on that in practice.

Even with all that, there were many great moments in this game for us. As always, we played them tough in the second half. It's really great that so many different girls on our team are scoring points. It means that teams can't just concentrate on shutting down one girl on our team.

Stats? Did someone mention stats?