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Tough lessons paying off in district
Published January 18, 2008
The idea was trial by fire — a sort of whatever-doesn’t-kill-you-will-make-you-stronger approach.
But, what Christy Dill worried about was whether the tough approach would come back to burn her team.
“The pre-district schedule was tough — and very tough for a young team,” the Tivy girls basketball coach said. “It meant some of them were going to have to grow up in a hurry, because there was a lot to learn.
“The girls did a good job of adjusting pretty quickly, I think, but the best part is they never stopped working. Things could have gone either way — they could have folded and just said forget it, this just isn’t working. But they didn’t.”
Because of that, the Antlers are smoking.
After going 5-14 in the non-district, Tivy has won three of four in District 27-4A play, with a chance to secure no worse than second place at the halfway point in tonight’s game at Fredericksburg.
In four district games, the Antlers are holding opponents to 31.8 points per game — no surprise, since defense has long been a trademark of the Tivy girls program.
But, the difference has been improved offensive output. Even with a chilly 9-for-30 night in a 43-31 loss at Boerne to open district play, the Antlers are scoring 52.5 points per game in the district — a big output after shooting woes made the tough non-district schedule even harder.
“I think everyone is just a lot more confident now,” junior Kaitlyn Overby said after scoring 13 points to lead Tivy past Alamo Heights 47-31. “Making a few shots doesn’t hurt.”
And, getting more than a few people to hit those shots helps, as well.
In their three district wins, Tivy has had no less than four players score six points or more in each game. Overby leads Tivy, getting 12.8 points per game in district play, and has scored in double digits in three of the Antlers’ four district games. Devin Anderson is averaging 8.5 points against district competition, twice getting 11 points in wins over Memorial and Kennedy, while Kelsi Wilmot is averaging 7.8 points per district contest while coming off the bench.
“I like the balance we’ve been getting on offense,” Dill said. “That’s what we prefer.”
And the best way to get that is playing defense. Tivy has forced opponents into 90 turnovers in its last three games — and held those three to a collective 31-for-127 shooting from the floor — and those often turnovers turn into on-the-fly scoring opportunities.
“We like it when we push the ball,” Overby said. “We get into a rhythm.”
All of which Dill figured would happen — if the Antlers came out of their non-district schedule with psyches intact.
“They’re getting it,” she said. “We talked a lot about learning from what we did in non-district, but not dwelling on the losses or record too much. Live in the moment, that’s what we told them, and that the experiences (from non-district) would only make them better.
“Those games, they’re really just practice for what we’re doing now, a way to prepare for district. They count against your overall record, but they really don’t count in any other way. District is what matters — it’s what determines if you get into the playoffs or not — and what we used those other games to prepare for. Now’s the time to make use of what we learned.”
And finish strong.
Contact Bill Begley at bill.begley(at)dailytimes.com
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