So we started Nationals day 4 off with as little fan fare as possible. After an emotional day 3 and with big games the rest of the way we let the girls rest and recharge. We gave them free time to sleep in or go to breakfast as they like. To rest or spend time with family as they liked. I personally used that time to get up early and drive to my parents house an hour away to spend the morning with my wife and kids. Not only did it help me personally to take some edge off of the stress, but it also gave me distraction from thinking about and potentially over thinking the key situation.
We got back together as a team for lunch and then went to practice at the STU gym. We prepped for Ontario with a focus on defending posts and the interior. With 7 players over 6 foot we were very concerned about the boards. We made a decision to front and stunt the posts to stay with our basic defensive concept knowing it may hurt us on the boards, but would allow us to pressure the perimeter to bounce and attack. We felt that if their guards attacked they would invariably get some hoops but we could still defend our way with jumps and rotation. We also would live with losing on runners rather then pounding at us and running their stuff.
At practice we also worked on reacting to lobs, and backdoors with rotation to take charges in the middle. We spent the last 4 minutes of practice just laying on the floor getting the girls to feel comfortable there. We know that we need loose balls, jumpballs, charges and to get shoved off box outs for our defense to be effective. We equate a good defensive possession with bodies on the floor. So we had them spend time getting comfortable there because to protect the key we would need them to be there all night anyway.
We felt good after practice. Went back to rest and eat lightly as we would not be having supper until after the game.
We went to the gym and went through our regular prep procedure 15 minutes to change, tape etc. 20 minutes of individual and team prep time for them by themselves to get mentally focused separated from the outside world. We put some talking or thinking points for them to focus on the board and leave them be with their music. 15 Minutes before warmup the coaches come back in and we go over any tactical adjustments visually on the board that we've walked through, remind about the points they studied earlier, and we have a quote to inspire/focus their energy. Address our four key areas of focus, head to floor. Warmup until announcements of lineups, anthem, etc. Spend final 3 minutes sharing the starting group and substitution patterns for first 4 minutes of quarter. Cheer and go.
We walked out onto the floor vs Ontario and blinked. While we were blinking they flew out to their best shooting quarter of the tournament. We didn't close out, didn't want the ball, didn't protect the paint or basically do anything except fantastic basketball players get whatever they want. By the end of the first quarter they were 5-6 from the three point line, their posts had gotten every touch we had planned to stop, and we had scored 2 points. Down 33-2 after the first it could have gotten real bad.
It didn't suddenly with the pressure off the girls were ready to grind and focus. We went to work in the 2nd quarter: drew a charge, started to scrap to get to the free throw line and as their outside shooting cooled we were able to confidently lock into our defensive schemes. We won the 2nd quarter 14-11. On the way to the locker room I was worried about our state of mind but as I came in we were laughing and positive. We happily discussed the laughable first quarter and thats how they treated it, and talked about statistical categories we could win. Be had remarkably held our own on the boards (partially because they made so many shots early) so I challenged the girls to win the rebounding battle, since we were only down 6 at half. I thought that goal alone would keep them working even if it wasn't reasonable. We also had drawn 3 charges so I challenged them to make sure we won the charge count it was 3-1 at that point. We also wanted to make sure we turned the ball over less then 10 times in the half to make sure they had to play through our defense and we got better scoring chances.
We went out a didn't focus on Ont. my assistant review their goals as I got mic'd up for my feedback and evaluation session from Canada Basketball. I'll blog about this later but was a great experience to be mic'd and have CB officials giving you live feedback to what you are saying and doing all half. They give you the dvd with all their comments back for your review and is a great learning tool. So between the instructions and their reaction to me in a microphone they certainly weren't concerned about the scoreboard or Ont.'s return to the floor.
Then we went to work. We outworked the biggest team and province we played all summer for two quarters. We held them to 10 points in the 3rd and then 2 in the fourth. At one point in the 4th quarter Ont came back with a bunch of starters who they'd hope to leave out the rest of the way just to try to get back on track. At that point though we had spent the half defending the post so well, and fighting so hard at both ends it couldn't overcome our momentum. We ended up losing 56-37, but won the last 25 minutes 32-16. When we looked at the stats for the game we had 8 turnovers in the 2nd half had drawn 5-1 charges and won the rebounding battle 44-42. Our girls were so proud of their effort but actually more upset about the first quarter at the end of the game once they'd seen what their hard work could do.
Overall a great evening for our kids but we didn't get to celebrate as by the time we got back from letting them eat from the parents and into res we had less then 12 hours to prep for Alberta in the consolation round who had been eliminated by the same young and aggressive Manitoba team who had thumped us day one much earlier in the day. Having no practice time to prep for perrenial powerhouse who would be unhappy to have been eliminated from medal contention was not an easy challenge, but we went to work right away.
I had taken notes on all the teams all week and the one advantage I felt that we had over them was they wanted to run sets and continuity offenses to get the ball to particular people in very specific places and ways. I knew that our defense was making people play off the bounce and create so if we could negate their best player (#6 a very athletic guard in a large frame) , and make sure that they couldn't get interior touches out of their sets we could hang around defensively. They also were going to run a packline defense that would give us an easier time seeing/reading our offensive principles then we had in previous games.
Before we went the girls to bed I took them out on the lawn in front of rez and in the light of street lamps in some drizzle I walked them through the 3 sets and continuity that Alberta had run all week and what they were focused on getting out of it. Our girls were surprised that a team would play this structured and focused on key players in comparison to our 5 out motion reads and 12 person deep attitude. They went to bed and we got ready for next day.
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