Basics, rebounding, defense keys in basketball finals

Southeast Raleigh coach Nicole Meyers said her team has to do the little things right if the Bulldogs are to upset Charlotte Myers Park in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A girls championship basketball game on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Meyers, along with many of the coaches competing in the finals, have stressed to their teams this week during game preparations to focus on executing things that they have done all year.

For Garner, a key is getting defensive rebounds and starting fast breaks. Chapel Hill will focus on defensive pressure. And Southeast’s Meyers is stressing that the players need to box out, move their feet on defense and execute.

Back to basics

Myers Park beat Southeast 61-46 in the 2014 title game, and Meyers was so upset by the loss she had not watched the game film until this week.

“I knew we just didn’t play well, and it made me sick,” she said.

But when she broke the film down, the Bulldogs’ biggest shortcoming in the game was rebounding. Myers Park outrebounded Southeast by 30. The Mustangs had a 25-0 advantage in scoring off second chances.

To prevent a repeat in Saturday’s game at UNC’s Carmichael Arena, Meyers has stressed rebounding fundamentals – it is more important where your feet are on the floor than how high they are in the air.

“We’ve got to get position, box out and go for the ball,” Meyers said. “The tendency is to concentrate on the ball. You’ve got to find your man, get position and then look for the ball.

“It goes back to discipline; the discipline to do the little things correctly.”

Meyers said there was no lack of effort in last year’s loss, but Southeast didn’t execute the same way it had most of the season. She said the team wasn’t pleased with the way it played in the finals last year.

“We know what to expect. It all boils down to what Southeast Raleigh does,” she said.

Meyers believes her team is mentally tough.

The Bulldogs played without three starters, including N.C. State recruit Amber Richardson, through part of the season.

“We dropped some games, but we didn’t make excuses or feel sorry for ourselves,” she said. “We knew we had to play better.”

The same is true for the championship game rematch.

Tim Stevens

Garner boys must rebound

Garner (27-1) loves to play a transition game, while Charlotte’s Ardrey Kell (28-1) thrives on controlling the pace and prevailing in low-scoring games.

In order to run, Garner, which averages 80.9 points a game, has to rebound.

Ardrey Kell allows only 49.7 points a game and can slow down the Trojans by controlling the backboards.

“When I first started coaching, I went to every clinic I could. I learned a lot from Dean Smith about how important it is to set the pace of the game,” said Garner’s coach Eddie Gray. “You dictate the pace of the game with your defense. For us, that means getting a defensive rebound, making a good outlet pass and trying to score as many transition baskets as we can.”

Trojans players are drilled on the importance of that first pass, both seeing the open man and putting the ball where that man is going to be once the ball gets to him.

Ardrey Kell foremost concern is to keep teams off of the offensive glass, then take its time getting the ball into the offensive mode after a defensive rebound.

“We’re not a big team, we’re 6-5, 6-3, in the post,” said Knights coach Michael Craft. “But we’re a really good team rebounding team.”

D. Clay Best

The same, but different

Chapel Hill coach Sherry Norris and Hickory coach Barbara Helms agree on two things about Saturday's championship game: handling and applying defensive pressure will be critical and no one should expect a repeat of last year.

In last year’s 3A girls final, the Tigers bolted to a 28-6 lead and ended up winning 69-56. Chapel Hill scored 34 points off the Red Tornadoes’ 24 turnovers.

Hickory (26-0) enters this game on a defensive tear, holding opponents to just 26.7 points per game this season. Last weekend, No. 1-seeded Hickory held No. 2 Monroe Weddington to just 13 points, winning the NCHSAA West Region final by a 43-point margin.

“Traditionally, all of my teams have been defensively oriented, but this group is at whole different level defensively,” Helms said this week. “We take pride in that.”

Appearing in the championship game for a third straight year, Chapel Hill (24-2) has held opponents to 38.2 points game.

“I don't think the game this year will be anything like the game last year,” Norris said. “We're a different team this year, while Hickory is basically the same.

“They are extremely quick. They play a tough pressure defense like we do. We're gong to have to rebound well to get a fast break going.”

W.E. Warnock

This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Basics, rebounding, defense keys in basketball finals."