Albemarle decided full court pressure might be its best bet against rival Western Albemarle.
But Western proved up to the test, breaking the Albemarle press efficiently and effectively in a 50-29 victory Wednesday night.
“Part of it is experience,” Western coach Kris Wright said. “They pressed us twice last year and we didn’t handle it very well. Being a year older, we kind of know where we’re supposed to be more often.”
The person who was most often in the right place was junior point guard Kelsey Swanson, who finished with five points, six assists, and shot 75 percent from the stripe.
“She may be the best point guard in the area,” Wright said. “She makes the offense go. Whether it’s the press the half court offense, or being vocal when she needs to be…she does a really great job for us.”
Time after time, Swanson found a way to get the ball down the court, despite a scrappy Albemarle press, and that wasn’t lost on Albemarle coach Anita Jenkins.
“She’s a tough player,” said Jenkins. “She’s really good, but you know I thought we would have matched up better.”
Once Swanson advanced the ball into the half court, Western overpowered Albemarle’s four-guard look by going inside to juniors Raven Ward and Carolyn Schneller, who each finished with 12 points.
The Warriors also got a huge night on the defensive boards for fellow junior Erin Shaffrey, who finished with 11 rebounds, only 1 of which was on the offensive end. Western forced Albemarle to take a lot of tough outside shots by pressuring the perimeter.
“We’re going to show up and play defense,” Wright said. “That’s who we are as a school and that’s who we are as a program, and we take a lot of pride in it.”
That led to plenty of rebounding opportunities, and in that battle, the Warriors won definitively, out-rebounding the Patriots 46-18. With so few second chance opportunities, Albemarle’s offense struggled, leading to a 30-10 halftime deficit, which proved too large a hole for the Patriots to climb out of.
“I thought we could put the pressure on them, and felt we had an advantage with our speed,” Jenkins said. “We just didn’t show that consistency tonight.”
Despite their lack of success in the first half though, Albemarle came out strong in the second half, outscoring Western 11-10 in the third period, thanks to a much more successful defensive effort.
“I just told them to come out and play the defense we’re capable of,” said Jenkins. “And then let’s just chip away, and get it down to 10 going into the fourth quarter, and we’ll go from there.”
The Patriots got some help from Hendrix’s seven second half points, Tanika Lewis’ eight rebounds and Jessica Hairston’s six steals, but couldn’t overcome their early troubles.
