Press, press, press.
The strategy of the Oak Hill Academy girls basketball team Monday night was simple: Use defense to control the tempo against Heritage Academy.
That plan proved effective, as Oak Hill Academy”s full-court, player-to-player defense led to offense from its defense in a 52-33 victory in non-division action.
“They gave us trouble right out of the bag,” said Heritage girls basketball coach Bruce Allsup, whose Lady Patriots fell to 13-11. “We just never could catch up and we were in scramble mode from then on.”
The press proved effective from the start and helped Oak Hill Academy build an 18-3 lead in the first quarter lead. Heritage Academy turned to its pressure defense to stay close and matched Oak Hill Academy shot for shot in the next two quarters, but couldn”t recover.
“They shot the ball extremely well and — like I told the girls after the game — they just beat us,” Allsup said. “They were the better team tonight.”
Oak Hill Academy coach Stan Hughey praised his team”s play, especially on defense.
“The girls worked hard for this win,” said Hughey, whose squad improved to 18-6. “We started the season 4-5, then we ran off a streak of nine victories before Christmas. I hated to take the time off because we were doing so well.”
The Lady Raiders lost the first game back from the holidays and then added five more victories.
Allsup said the Lady Patriots would find what improvements needed to be made and work on the team”s play.
“We”ll adjust and we play them the next ballgame at their place,” he said. “I think we”ll play them a lot better.”
With playoffs approaching, Allsup said the loss was a learning experience in other ways. His squad needed to face a team that plays Oak Hill Academy”s style to prepare for the postseason.
“It was a good ballgame because this is the kind of team we are going to see in the playoffs, especially in our conference,” Allsup said. “They”ve got a fine ballclub, and it was a good experience, although we didn”t play the way we wanted to play. Hopefully, it will give us a good warmup game for (tonight) against MRA, who plays a lot like them.”
Tori Ellis led Oak Hill Academy with 15 points. Paige Dawkins added 10.
Christibeth Nelson (15 points) led Heritage Academy, which received 12 points from junior center Rachel Hollivay.
In the junior varsity game, Kristen Phillips had 30 points in Heritage Academy”s 44-31 win.
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