The New Hope High School girls basketball team nearly has all its parts back together.
The trick now will be to get everyone on the same page in time for a postseason run.
The next-to-last step in that process came Tuesday night in a 76-44 victory against Noxubee County in Columbus.
D.J. Sanders led the Lady Trojans (21-4) with 22 points in her fourth game back from a concussion. She and teammate Moesha Calmes banged heads and suffered concussions. Calmes had five points Tuesday in her fourth game since the injury.
Taylor Baudoin chipped in with 16 points in her second game back since a foot injury. Coupled with 13 points from Kaitlin Bradley, New Hope showed he balance that should make it a tough out next week in the district tournament. New Hope, the top seed, will play host to Oxford, West Point, and Saltillo beginning Tuesday. Times for the four games Tuesday will be announced later this week.
As balanced an attack as New Hope showed (it had 10 players score), it could offer even more balance when Kristin Phillips returns. New Hope coach Laura Lee Holman said Phillips was ill Tuesday and didn’t attend the game. She hopes to have her back at 100 percent Thursday when New Hope plays host to Caledonia at 6 p.m.
If not, Holman can rest assured that the Lady Trojans have adapted to injuries and should be able to change gears. They showed they were able to shift tempos against Noxubee County, turning a 26-24 halftime lead into a 59-35 cushion after three quarters.
“I was trying to use the game to work on our man defense,” Holman said. “We went into the locker room and said, ‘Press them and wear them out.’ That was pretty much my halftime speech. They love pressing and that style of play.
“You have to let them do what they are good at. I told them I would take care of their half-court defense in practice. They did a great job. Thirty-three points in the third quarter is pretty impressive.”
Holman said New Hope hasn’t had the starting lineup it featured Tuesday since the second week of November. But its depth with Mercedes Mattix, Lauren Holifield, Gabby Murray, Taylor Blevins, and Antonia Jethroe gives it more athleticism and quickness than most teams, which are ideal traits to fuel a pressure defense.
Holman credited Sanders’ energy for helping to trigger the defensive onslaught. Playing in front of the press, Sanders, a junior, uses her speed and length to harass ballhandlers and passers. Sanders’ activity typically results in turnovers or easy scoring chances for her teammates.
“D.J. Sanders had a lot to do (with the third quarter),” Holman said. “The team follows her effort. The harder she plays, the harder they play. It says a lot for D.J. Sanders and her leadership. This team has decided they are going to buy into what she is doing and what I am trying to get them to do. They really brought it in the second half. It has been a tough two weeks for all of us. It was good to see them jell back together and it all come back together.”
Holman saw flashes of that continuity on offense. She said the Lady Trojans were effective in their half-court sets when they were patient and worked the ball. She hopes the victory serves as a lesson to show the players they can score against a variety of defenses if they take their time.
New Hope (boys) 64, Noxubee County 54
Just as the New Hope girls are rounding into shape, New Hope boys coach Drew McBrayer hopes his team can find its stride in time to prolong its season.
Coming off a one-point loss to Amory on Monday, McBrayer saw signs that could be ready to happen.
Jaylon Bardley had a team-high 16 points to offset a game-high 22 from Darrell Robinson for the Trojans (13-11).
Derrick Sherrod added 14 points and Chris Mosley had 11, including a 3-pointer with 1 minute, 2 seconds left in the third quarter that snapped a 42-all tie. New Hope pushed the lead to seven in the fourth quarter, only to see Noxubee County cut it to four, but the Trojans extended the lead in the fourth quarter and held on.
McBrayer agreed the 2012-13 Trojans, much like the 2009-10 team that featured Raymond Walters, don’t have a superstar players but that they do have a lot of nice pieces that go well together. He said his team is at its best when the individuals work together to share the basketball and make each other better. He hopes the Trojans can use that mind-set and some stout defense to make the most of their opportunity to play host to the district tournament. New Hope will play West Point at a time to be determined Tuesday. The teams played two close games in the regular season, with each winning on their home court. McBrayer feels finding the toughness that the 2009-10 team had will be key if this season’s team wants to move on.
“We have lost seven ballgames by four points or less,” McBrayer said. “Closing out ballgames and finishing games and trying to find a way, now they have all been on the road, actually one them was here, but we have been in a lot of games and haven’t found a way to win them, whereas that group did. Hopefully tonight gives them a little bit of confidence to find a way to win a tight game. It just comes down to making plays and executing in the end. I thought we did a fairly decent job of doing that tonight.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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