Blue Devils Press Early and Often
December 8, 2023
Handsworth Royals vs Charles Best
Charles Best came out absolutely flying in this one featuring an extremely high press. This was no accident as the girls knew exactly when to pinch and appeared to be extremely well coached by Jim Day. The Royals struggled to break this press and consistently found themselves doubled and trapped in tight spaces. It was very clear the Royals had to make some spacing adjustments to this defensive style to have any chance of even getting the ball in the opposing end.
Coach Cameron constantly yelled out “Swing it faster, swing it faster” to his Royals team on offense in hopes the team would get quicker ball movement going. These turnovers were adding up and becoming increasingly frustrating for the offensively starved Royals.
The Blue Devils were led offensively by shifty point guard Malaya Barroso whose speed and quickness was on display early and often. It was impressive to see a grade 10 take such command of the group and be the team leader.
At the halftime buzzer the visiting Blue Devils led 31-20 over the host Royals.
“And you’ll poke that bear until her claws come out”... It was no surprise to hear T-Swift coming from the gym speakers during intermission and it seemed to be timed oh so perfectly for this match-up.
The Blue Devils had done their fair share of poking and now it’s time for Coach Cameron’s, Royals to show a little more claw in the second half.
The Royals shooting guard Denali Scott continued her shooting form in the second half and was often looked upon to be the catalyst on offence. She seemed to always roam on the left shoulder and was a spot-up shooter no different than the famous Caitlin Clarke.
These long-range jumpers brought the game back to an 8-point deficit which was the lowest since the early minutes. This was a very impressive turnaround for the Royals who looked to be in deep trouble early on.
What a quarter for the Royals who completely flipped the Blue Devils bacon to set up an exciting fourth quarter.
The 4th quarter completely shifted again as momentum fell completely in Charles Best favour as they got back to their high press and fast break strategy. This made life extremely tough for the Royals as they gave up more turnovers resulting in easy layups and non-contested shots.
It would be no surprise to see the Blue Devils use this high press defence in their next game as it was critical to their success in this one.
After a lopsided 34-7 fourth quarter the Charles Best Blue Devils walked away with a 81-50 victory over the host Handsworth Royals.
Congrats to Charles Best’s Avin Jahangiri on her player-of-the-game performance.
Leading Scorers:
Handsworth: Justine Childs 20 points.
Charles Best: Avin Jahangiri 25 points.