Hello Fans! it’s me again, Srednefed, coming to you with today’s games. The defenders played two games today with a lot of similarities and very different results. First game of the day was against the Wescon Fillies. Once again the team started out slowly and somewhat anxious. It would seem that for a team called the Defenders this club wants to be known more for their offense than defense. The team tried to compete with the Fillies shot for shot while playing a rather helter skelter type defense. Unfortunately for the defenders the Fillies loved to run the floor and when they set up simply spread the floor for the drive and kick. Believe you me this made for a very frustrating first half that only saw the defenders take a slim halftime lead. During the halftime break the team got a rather spirited reminder what allowed them to blow open their first game yesterday. D-E-F-E-N-S-E became the focus of the second half and once coach was able to find a rotation that worked the team coasted to a nice victory.
Of course the second game of the day against the NEPA Flames was a whole different story. Unlike the first two games the defenders came out on the attach. This strategy proved to be a good one as they took an early lead in the first half suggesting that this would finally be the game everyone expected from the defenders. But alas it was not to be as the subs were not able to maintain the same level of intensity, focus, effort, and consistency. It seemed that with every substitution there were periods of good play but just not enough consistency to maintain the lead and thus the momentum. A stretch of unforced turnovers, scrambling defense, and lack of intensity, and a willingness to give up rebounds and 3s doomed the game from around the 9 minute mark in the first half through the end of the game. There were stretches of good play and bad play but probably the single most dissappointing thing that I noticed was the giant step backwards as a team. This team has an M.O. of ‘whenever things get tough they turn on each other’. Today’s second game was no different. I sure hope they find a way to pull it together but just looking at how the girls are segmented into their own little groups this does not seem likely.
Tomorrow is another day as hope springs eternal! Goodnight Fans! Thanks for tunning in, see you back here tomorrow with what I hope is a very exciting report!
PEACE