Outside shooting, defense helps Robbinsville pull away in postseason opener
Robbinsville – Two Lady Knights hit 10 3’s.
The defense took care of the rest.
Robbinsville (14-1, No. 8 seed) trounced the visiting Chatham Charter (8-3, No. 9) Lady Knights 78-41, thanks largely to a 33-point game from Desta Trammell and a 15-point night by Kensley Phillips, both sophomores.
“That’s just not just a thing that suddenly happens; these girls put hours upon hours in the gym,” Robbinsville head coach Lucas Ford pointed out. “(Assistant) Coach (Eddie) Howell works with these girls a lot outside of practice. That’s one thing that really separates this group from any other groups that we’ve had. We’d have 1-2 girls spend time in the gym; this year, we have 6-7.
“If we have a game, they’re going to be in here, getting 100-150 shots. You want to be a better shooter? That’s to get out and shoot the ball.”
The tango got interesting in the second quarter. Though Chatham never led in the contest, the visiting Knights stepped up their inside game and turned a 19-9 tally at the end of the first into a 37-26 halftime deficit.
Ford noted that he wrote “DEFENSE” on the dry-erase board in the locker room during the break.
Message received. Robbinsville had seven second-half steals and pulled down 15 rebounds, a much-improved mark from the first half.
“We kinda got away from who we are in the first half,” Ford explained. “We had 10 rebounds at the half and 11 steals; when you’ve got more steals than rebounds, you’re getting effort, but not in position to rebound. They had three ‘bigs’ out there most of the night and we play a 5-guard lineup, but those five guards hustle, attack and get to rebounds really well.
“Defense is why we’re here. We’re a pretty good offensive team, but great defense leads to great offense. That’s what we’ve preached all year.”