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Paola girls work on half-court offense PDF Print E-mail
Sports
Written by Gene Morris   
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 15:13
Instead of showcasing its abundant speed and quickness at the annual black and gold scrimmage the Paola High School girls’ basketball team worked on one of its weaknesses — the half court set offense.

The run-and-gun, track-meet style offense, was scrapped until late in the scrimmage.

Paola guards Taelor Karr, Allison Wood, Courtney Clouse and Taylor Smith swung the ball on offense and fed post players Rachel Hanf, Megan Hayes and Rachel Schmidt.

Oddly enough for a team built on being able to run the floor, the first point of the scrimmage came with no one moving at all. Kylee Mader sank a free throw to open the scoring for the black squad.

Smith drilled the first basket, making an outside jump shot for a 3-0 score.

The Panthers did not look comfortable in the half court set, forcing themselves to slow the ball down and keeping their sprinter’s shoes on the bench.

“We know our half court offense has to get better,” Paola coach Stuart Ross said. “It is something we have to work on. We know we can run.

“It was ugly at times tonight, but that is good,” he said. “They know what we have to work on.”

The Panthers opened the season this week on the road in the Eudora Invitational. The finals are set for Thursday evening.

Wood delivered a spark for the gold defense during the scrimmage, stealing the ball from the black squad.

Hanf, who is headed to Emporia State University, made the first track appearance of the night, taking the ball from the gold side and driving to the basket for a layup and the foul. She sank the free throw as black jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

Karr, who signed early with Kansas State University, gave gold its first offense of the night with a three-pointer to cut the deficit in half.

Gold worked the ball into Schmidt in the post and she finished the play with a basket to make it a one-point game, 6-5.

Black answered the surge with a one-two combination from Hanf and Hayes. Hanf drove for a layup and Hayes scored down low in the post.

Mackenzie Hallstrom, another candidate at guard, drilled a jumper for gold to close it back to 10-7, and that’s where the score stood for one quarter of varsity basketball.

The scrimmage opened with the freshmen playing against each other. Following one quarter of varsity action, the girls concluded with one quarter of junior varsity and varsity playing in mixed-squad action.

Sprinters began stretching out their legs for a fast-and-furious finish — the race was on.

Guard Kayla Offutt stole the ball for gold and took off, creating a fast-break. Mader forced another turnover and finished with a basket at the other end.

Melanie Golubski made a nice inside move for a layup to post two points for the black squad.

Offutt led another break with a steal and found Cheyenne Rankin who drew the foul.

Courtney Johnson took advantage of her time on the floor to take control bringing the ball down the floor. She made a nice cross-over dribble and ran the offense with poise.

Ashlee Johnson hit two big free throws late.

Paola ended the night with three fast-breaks. Hanf finished one with a layup. Karr tore down the court for a drive, and Offutt hit Hanf on the fly for another easy basket.
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