Ken Roberts
Sports Writer
The Huskies’ girls basketball team is undefeated. Yes, it is just two games, but it has been a long time since the Huskies could say that and they took a big step last week in the right direction. Remember, they were 1-21 last year.
Not only did they defeat Creswell, they thrashed them 61-24. Granted the Lady Dawgs did not have an adequate point guard, but Sweet Home showed signs of things to come by forcing Creswell into 37 turnovers, 22 of which were caused by Husky steals.
“I was surprised how aggressive we came out on defense,” said coach Jason Gorham, in his second year at the helm. “All the girls were aggressive. We took that aggressiveness on defense and used it on offense.”
That is what Gorham has been preaching to his team constantly; defense leads to offense.
It seems they have received the message. After a shaky couple of minutes by both teams trying to overcome first game jitters, the Huskies badgered the Creswell guards in the first quarter, led by Kendra Greene, who managed to be involved on 11 different occasions in causing Bulldog turnovers. The first six points were all scored by Greene off of steals that led to fast breaks.
Hannah Swanson, who entered the game in the second quarter, was just as pesky, and all of the other Huskies contributed to a suffocating defense and transition offense. With the Husky posts doing a good job of looking up the floor after rebounds, the Huskies posted 22 points off of transitions.
“In the past, there is times that we could play for three or four minutes or maybe even a half, but not for four quarters where we really dominated,” said Gorham.
Not only was the transition game working, but that led to confidence in their half court offense. Throughout the game, the Huskies had good ball movement, which led to a 50 percent shooting night from the floor, many of those shots created by good passes. Greene led all scorers with 16 followed by post Mallory Carlson who had 11 points and led the Huskies with 5 assists. Ashlee Gorgita led a balanced rebounding effort with 7.
On Thursday, the Huskies faced a more competent Elmira squad. The Huskies broke out quickly and once again scored the first six points, the first on a Greene steal and pass to a breaking Swanson. The next six were all out of the half-court offense or on inbounds plays.
“We started really well,” said Gorham. “It was good to push it out a little bit and get our offense going.”
Sweet Home established a 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained close to that margin in the second quarter, on top 24-18 at halftime. Chelsea Hackworth, whose steady offensive effort throughout the game produced key baskets, led the scoring at that point with 9 on her way to a 19 point night.
“Our offense is much better,” said Hackworth, whose drives and pull up jumpers are her specialty. “We worked together as a team over the summer. It makes it easier for me to do what I have to do.”
On this night, she had to carry a large portion of the offensive load. Elmira, using steady rebounding, was able to push the ball up the floor more starting in the third quarter. Even if they didn’t make the first shot, they often had position for the offensive board and put back. For the game, the Falcons managed 18 second chance points to the Huskies 5.
“Early in the third quarter, we started showing some signs of fatigue,” said Gorham. We started to foul a little bit. We slowed down on defense and were just standing around on offense, rather than pushing it.”
Elmira capitalized on those foul opportunities, shooting 15 for 22. Meanwhile, the Huskies struggled at the line for the second straight game. After shooting 5 for 21 against Creswell, they only shot 5 for 15 versus the Falcons.
“Free throws are a bit of a pressure situation,” said Gorham, whose Huskies shoot 70% from the line in practice. “We’ll start building that confidence and keep working on it in practice.”
It nearly cost them the game. Elmira took their first lead with 6:45 left in the game, which they built to a four point lead with just a minute and a half left, at which point Gorham called for a timeout.
Hackworth stepped in to make a couple of great plays, starting with a bank shot off a drive following the timeout. She had a chance to tie the game but missed on a short jump shot. After a free throw by Elmira, she rescued an errant pass and immediately attacked the basket, drew the defense to her, and dished to Carlson for an inside basket.
“I didn’t really think about it,” said Carlson. “It just went up. It gave us a lot of momentum.”
Gorham called for another timeout with about 30 seconds to go to set up a full court press. Rachel Gaskey, guarding the inbounder, deflected the pass attempt sideways into the waiting hands of Ashley Wall, who flipped in her first field goal of the year at the most opportune time, giving the Huskies a one point lead.
“I just hoped it would go in,” said Wall. “Usually when I’m on the right side, I shoot right-handed, but I shot that one left-handed.”
Still with time to win the game, point guard Andrea Sconce double dribbled on her way to a wide open lay-in. The Falcons fouled and Greene sank one of her two free throws. The Huskies hustled back for their last defensive stand and forced Sconce to take a long three with Wall planted in her face. Gaskey, who led the Huskies in rebounds and assists, hauled in this final rebound to seal the deal.
The Huskies used their main weapon, harrassing defense, to force the Falcons into 29 turnovers, despite a much better ball handling team.
“Elmira had a better offense, so we had to work harder in our defense,” said Swanson.
Gorham saw the come-from-behind victory as another step in the process of program building.
“The wins built confidence and let the girls know they are a quality team that’s going to play some good basketball this year,” said Gorham. “They see the things that they have been doing and how it’s helping them in games. So it’s making it easier to make adjustments and push them in practice.”
Greene just wants to keep this small streak going.
“We never can get big heads about it,” said Greene. “We have to do better the next game. Hopefully we can just build on it.”