Spirits Zone Out Cyclones
Photos and Story by Robert Thomas
Aggressive play, grit, winning the fight on the backboards and moving to a modified 3 - 2 zone defence clogging up the center lane saw the third place Vanier Spirits senior girls basketball team defeat the second place Central Cyclones 53 - 45 on Tuesday evening.
The game saw the Spirits flood the key taking away the Cyclones snipers from scoring from the lane.
The Spirits victory lifted them into a second place tie in the city league with the Cyclones. Both teams now sport identical 4 - 2 records.
The game saw the Spirits outpace the Cyclones throughout the game.
The score at the end of the First Quarter was Vanier 17 and Centeal 8.
The Cyclones managed to cut into the Spirits lead in the Second Quarter. The score at Halftime was Vanier 26 and Central 23.
The three point difference was the closest the Cyclones would get to catching the Spirits.
The Third Quarter saw the Spirits expand their lead to Vanier 39 and Central 33.
In the Fourth Quarter the Cyclones rallied to fight back to being four points behind the Spirits.
Despite rallying back to a four point gap the Cyclones were unable to use the momentum to pass the Spirits.
The final score was Vanier 53 And Central 45.
For Central Cyclones head coach Tanya McLean it simply wasn’t her team’s night.
“Losing isn’t the result you want but Vanier executed better than we did,” McLean said.
“We worked hard. We played hard but it just wasn’t our night.”
She said it wasn’t the case of the Spirits taking apart the Cyclones game plan but really just one where it simply wasn’t Central’s day.
“No they just played a two three zone well and we just did not. Our shots did not fall tonight and they couldn’t miss,” she said, adding “it wasn’t our night. When nothing goes in it’s not our night.”
A two three zone defence is where two guards are posted adjacent the backboard and three players are positioned at the top of the key. The defence is designed to force opponents to shoot lower percentage distant shots.
For Vanier the strategy saw them flood the key both offensively and defensively and aggressively attack on rebounding.
“Our shots just didn’t go in. Their’s did and there is your six points.”
She pointed out how the Cyclones had some successes during the game but “we did them in spurts and didn’t do them the whole game.”
McLean said the Cyclones couldn’t make a basket and at the same time players such as the Spirits Waverly Demassi seemed to make every shot she took.
The Cyclones did attempt to hem in Demassi with man to man coverage but it was a largely unsuccessful strategy.
Despite the loss - as the league is suspended temporarily to allow for semester academic testing - McLean said she felt the Cyclones were in good shape heading into the semester break.
For Vanier Spirits head coach Alisha Amey the victory came as no surprise.
“It was good. The girls dug deep. We knew we could play with them. Every game we played Central it was a ten point game. So we knew we want to be aggressive and rebound. Rebound, rebound and rebound was our goal,” Amey said.
The Spirits flooded the key both offensively and defensively strongly challenging plus winning the battle off of the boards.
“We came together today.”
The Spirits game plan was a full 180 degrees to what they had been using all year - including their most recent victory on Tuesday evening versus the Peacock Toilers.
“Sometimes different works. We had been playing pretty tight D (defence) on them. We wanted to stop their key points.”
Dominating off of the backboards was key to the Spirits game plan.
“Team rebounding is key. I don’t care about our size we have to do it together and we did that today.”
The Spirits tough and aggressive play is a natural progress for the team.
“We’re getting better. We’ve been playing great teams in the last couple of tournaments. Like 5A teams and we’re getting better. They’ve learned aggressiveness because of that,” she said.
Thursday saw the Spirits deviate from their regular around the circle passing and defence to a more aggressive shoot and chase rebounds.
“We’re trying to use our speed to our advantage for sure and take better shots. It’s not just shooting but I want to make smarter shots. We’re learning that. This team is going to learn better and become better because of these shots.”
The flooding of the key shutdown the center lane.
“That’s the goal to stop the middle of the key. If they don’t score twos (pointers) it’s harder to score three (pointers).”
For the Spirits it’s been a big week as they claimed back to back victories moving up in the city league standings.
“This is a big win against them for sure.”
The Cyclones will next be on the city league court on February 4th as they take on crosstown rivals the Peacock Toilers.
