RMA girls first in conference to 10 wins
BY PATRICK MASON Sports Writer
The Rocky Mount Academy girls’ basketball team can play tall, fast, or physical. Some-times all three at once.Eagles coach Katherine Johnston calls her team versatile, and the mix of attributes has allowed RMA to become the masters of the counter punch this season.Johnston is comfortable using the first quarter as a feeling out period, before employing a scheme that corrects any mismatches discovered early.
Take Wednesday’s 52-44 win over visiting St. Thomas More, for example. The Eagles found themselves trailing after the first quarter, only to regain the lead in a back-and-forth, mostly one-possession game through the final three quarters
.“We put in two new ones this week knowing they would put out a full court pressure,” Johnston said of the addition of a couple new plays. “(St. Thomas More) is a scrappy ball team. We had to adjust because we don’t necessarily play our best ball when somebody puts a lot of pressure on us, so we had to design a few things last week. It took us the first half, but the second half it worked a little better.”
The Eagles (14-5, 10-1 NCISAA Coastal Conference) trailed 10-9 at the end of the opening quarter, only to take a slim 23-22 lead at halftime. The Eagles managed to take a four-point lead at the end of the third quarter, but weren’t in the clear yet as they had to withstand one final surge from St. Thomas More.The Chancellors (12-7, 8-3) came back from a six-point deficit and used a 10-3 run in the fourth quarter to take a brief 43-42 lead, but couldn’t keep up the effort as RMA went on a 10-1 run in the final 1:43 to close out the victory.
Deborah Hall Kitchin led RMA in scoring with 17 points, while Mackenzie Davis added 14.
“Our biggest lead of the game was in the last 30 seconds,” Johnston said. “I told the girls that means we were getting better at exactly the right time.”Including Wednesday, RMA has allowed opponents to score 40 or more points just six times this season. This was RMA’s second win when allowing at least 40 points. Yet the Eagles are 12-1 when holding teams to fewer than 40 points, and part of the reason that the Eagles have been so effective at putting the brakes on opposing offenses is the way Johnston uses senior Haley McCall.
There’s a good chance that McCall is the fastest player on the floor at any given moment, and she uses that speed to score — like her 11 points on Wednesday — and to shut down opposing guards with tight defense.McCall’s speed is so useful that RMA designed an entire defensive set around it.
“She has as much speed as any person you ever knew,” Johnston said. “We have a defense named after her called ‘The Haley Defense’, where Haley goes and chases the ball. With her speed, most girls teams at our level have one or two good ball-handlers and if you can shut them down it works in our favor. So we’ll identify the ball-handler and we’ll put her on that player.”
When the Eagles enter this defense, the senior guard acts as a rover chasing the ball while her team-mates play in a zone. It’s one of a few sets RMA uses to hassle opponents.
“We have like three different defensive plays,” McCall said. “We start in something that will make them feel comfortable, then we’ll switch it up and put on the pressure based on what they’re doing.”And as the Eagles closed out yet another conference win, McCall felt everything clicking on the court in the final minutes.
“We play a lot of our better basketball in the second half so for us getting to that point in the fourth quarter it really helps,” McCall said. “As soon as that shift happens and we go up, we can stay up.”
The win puts the Eagles atop the conference as the first team to win 10 league games this season. RMA has one more game this week, on the road on Friday at O’Neal, then returns home on Tuesday for a game with rival Faith Christian
BY PATRICK MASON Sports Writer
The Rocky Mount Academy girls’ basketball team can play tall, fast, or physical. Some-times all three at once.Eagles coach Katherine Johnston calls her team versatile, and the mix of attributes has allowed RMA to become the masters of the counter punch this season.Johnston is comfortable using the first quarter as a feeling out period, before employing a scheme that corrects any mismatches discovered early.
Take Wednesday’s 52-44 win over visiting St. Thomas More, for example. The Eagles found themselves trailing after the first quarter, only to regain the lead in a back-and-forth, mostly one-possession game through the final three quarters
.“We put in two new ones this week knowing they would put out a full court pressure,” Johnston said of the addition of a couple new plays. “(St. Thomas More) is a scrappy ball team. We had to adjust because we don’t necessarily play our best ball when somebody puts a lot of pressure on us, so we had to design a few things last week. It took us the first half, but the second half it worked a little better.”
The Eagles (14-5, 10-1 NCISAA Coastal Conference) trailed 10-9 at the end of the opening quarter, only to take a slim 23-22 lead at halftime. The Eagles managed to take a four-point lead at the end of the third quarter, but weren’t in the clear yet as they had to withstand one final surge from St. Thomas More.The Chancellors (12-7, 8-3) came back from a six-point deficit and used a 10-3 run in the fourth quarter to take a brief 43-42 lead, but couldn’t keep up the effort as RMA went on a 10-1 run in the final 1:43 to close out the victory.
Deborah Hall Kitchin led RMA in scoring with 17 points, while Mackenzie Davis added 14.
“Our biggest lead of the game was in the last 30 seconds,” Johnston said. “I told the girls that means we were getting better at exactly the right time.”Including Wednesday, RMA has allowed opponents to score 40 or more points just six times this season. This was RMA’s second win when allowing at least 40 points. Yet the Eagles are 12-1 when holding teams to fewer than 40 points, and part of the reason that the Eagles have been so effective at putting the brakes on opposing offenses is the way Johnston uses senior Haley McCall.
There’s a good chance that McCall is the fastest player on the floor at any given moment, and she uses that speed to score — like her 11 points on Wednesday — and to shut down opposing guards with tight defense.McCall’s speed is so useful that RMA designed an entire defensive set around it.
“She has as much speed as any person you ever knew,” Johnston said. “We have a defense named after her called ‘The Haley Defense’, where Haley goes and chases the ball. With her speed, most girls teams at our level have one or two good ball-handlers and if you can shut them down it works in our favor. So we’ll identify the ball-handler and we’ll put her on that player.”
When the Eagles enter this defense, the senior guard acts as a rover chasing the ball while her team-mates play in a zone. It’s one of a few sets RMA uses to hassle opponents.
“We have like three different defensive plays,” McCall said. “We start in something that will make them feel comfortable, then we’ll switch it up and put on the pressure based on what they’re doing.”And as the Eagles closed out yet another conference win, McCall felt everything clicking on the court in the final minutes.
“We play a lot of our better basketball in the second half so for us getting to that point in the fourth quarter it really helps,” McCall said. “As soon as that shift happens and we go up, we can stay up.”
The win puts the Eagles atop the conference as the first team to win 10 league games this season. RMA has one more game this week, on the road on Friday at O’Neal, then returns home on Tuesday for a game with rival Faith Christian
