Princeton (OH) 48 - Warren East 45 (Girls)

Greenwood Invitational, Greenwood High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky

By J. Trace Kirkwood

I planned to put Pick and Roll on hold for a week while I visited family at Christmas and painted a hallway, stairwell, and two rooms in my house. I was fooling myself by thinking that I could stay away from basketball games with time off from work. Plus, I've lost my television because Santa Claus brought my children a Wii. Yep, you're right. I've logged some time on Mario Kart, and my kids can beat the living daylights out of me on the boxing game. I still mouth them like I'm the Louisville Lip, and they look at me like I've lost my mind.

My good friend, Jill Phillips e-mailed me and said that she was bringing her Princeton (OH) Vikings team to Bowling Green for a Christmas tournament, there was no way I was going to miss her games. Well, I missed one because I was in Mayfield, but I caught up with her team when they played Warren East on Sunday night at Greenwood.

I was torn. I really like the Warren East girls team have enjoyed watching Ashley Rainey play ball over the past couple of seasons, but Coach Phillips and her husband are very good friends of mine. How good? They have spent weeks at our house at times, and the Mrs. and I have always enjoyed their company. I've even proofread parts of her husband's books. He's a big, fancy professor at a little place called the University of Cincinnati. His students tell me that his courses are "bunny" or "Mickey Mouse" and that they take them to boost their GPA.

Princeton opened the game with an active full court press, and I believe they hit their first six or seven shots. Warren East looked a little flustered by the defense but never lost their composure. When they adjusted to the pressure they rallied late in the quarter, and trimmed the lead to one, 14-13, at the end of the first.

Warren East outplayed Princeton in the second quarter. They hustled for loose balls, played good defense, and East started hitting their shots. Amy Barnett handled the defensive pressure well and got the ball up the court, and Rainey was able to score down low. I'm always surprised at how well Rainey handles the ball along the perimeter.

Princeton could not buy a bucket in the second quarter. They rushed their shots. They forced their shots by foolishly challenging Rainey in the paint with smaller players. They paid the price, too. The Lady Vikings scored only seven points in the second frame while coughing up 16 to the Lady Raiders. East took a 29-21 lead to the break.

I like defensive oriented ball teams. If a team commits to playing good defense every time they take the court, then they have a shot at winning every game they play. All teams have bad shooting nights, but no matter how small the hoop seems a team can play good defense. I believe that's the case with my friend's team. They had lapses on the defensive end on Sunday night, but they clamped down and played good defense in the second half of the contest. Their defense got them back in the game.

The Lady Vikings know when to spring a trap or to apply double team pressure in a full court press. They frustrated East and made the Lady Raiders turn over the basketball. By the end of the third quarter, Princeton cut the lead to five.

Warren East responded early in the fourth quarter and pushed their lead back out to eight. It wasn't looking good for my friend and her Lady Vikings, but I was glad to see one of my Fourth Region favorites doing well against a good team from the Cincinnati area. I should, however, mention that Princeton was without their best player, who was injured in their game against Greenwood. I can't remember her name but Ohio State has recruited her, and she is the core of the Lady Viking's squad (I don't have a roster for my friend's team, and I'm terrible with name. I sometimes call my little boy by the dog's name).

Princeton's defensive pressure started paying off for them late in the fourth quarter. With 1:10 left in the game, Princeton took their first lead -- 45-44 -- since early in the second quarter. Warren East was able to tie the game on a free throw and then gave Princeton two chances to win the game. First, Stalworth stole the ball and went flying toward the hoop for a layup, but she put the ball on the glass too hard. It bounced off, and Warren East went back the other way as time was running out.

I figured we were heading to overtime. Princeton forced another Lady Raider turnover and had the ball with about 4.5 seconds left. Coach Phillips called a timeout and went over a play to get the ball up the court. Stalworth took the inbound pass and dribbled past the time line. She went up for a shot, but a Lady Raider got her hand on the ball to block it. Stalworth clutched in the air, adjusted her shot, launched a 22 foot leaner, and hit nothing but net.

It's a heart breaker for Warren East.

My friend Coach Phillips is originally from Shelbyville, Tennessee, and played high school ball for Rick Insell (as a WKU fan I hiss every time I type or say his name). She has a beautiful, drawling Tennessee accent. She said, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to start coloring my hair" in reference to the dramatic ending to the ballgame. I asked her if the play unfolded like she diagrammed it during the timeout. Like any coach would claim she said, "Yep, exactly."

Princeton steals one from the locals, 48-45.

OBSERVATIONS

The Swamp: I've been in a lot of high school gyms, and Greenwood's is among the bottom feeders in the region. There is not enough room at either end of the court, so they have the Duke style "hang-down" goals, which is fine. However, the way they are mounted to the ceiling results in a cable that droops down over the goal. A ball hit that cable last night and altered a play. I've always noticed it and have anticipated it being a factor in a ballgame. I just hope it's never a factor in a district game some day. No offense, Greenwood fans, I hate that place. This is just a suggestion: put a small lobby at the entrance so that fans don't open the door right into the gym.

Pick and Roll Not Title IX Friendly?: I know my regular readers will be surprised to find a summary of a girls' game on here. I like girls basketball, but I only have so much time on my hands to attend and write about games. I default to boys basketball, and I really do apologize to fans of the ladies. I'm trying to do better.

The Fortitude of Coaches: I noticed that Coach Phillips loaded her team into two passenger vans for their trip to Culver's -- the tournament's primary sponsor. She and her staff have to look after a high school basketball team for four days and shuttle them about in vans. I know that all other coaches go through this. I don't think casual fans of the game realize what coaches go through and do for their teams.