By Isabelle Khurshudyan,
The Georgetown Visitation girls' basketball team had "Defense Wins Championships" put on the back of their Interscholastic League AA championship T-shirts last season. Coach Mike McCarthy said it was the best defensive team he had ever coached, and after the tallest players on the team graduated, he feared this year's squad would be at a physical disadvantage defensively.
The Cubs have taken McCarthy and their opponents by surprise, as their suffocating pressure has frustrated offenses thus far this season. Against ISL AA foe Holy Child, the No. 8 Cubs' defense lifted them to a 57-29 win.
"It's an aggressive style of defense, and I think we can do that because we know we have our teammates behind us and we communicate really well," junior Maddy Reed said. "It frees you up to be more aggressive when you're on the ball."
The Cubs held the Tigers to just 18 points through three quarters and they allowed just 11 points in the fourth, when many of the starters were on the bench. With Holy Child having just one true post player in senior Anna Jorgensen, the Cubs had a rebounding advantage. When the Tigers would get the ball to their guards, Georgetown Visitation's man-defense would contest every deep shot.
The defense preserved the Cubs' lead when the offense went cold. After Georgetown Visitation (7-0) took a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Cubs scored just five points in the second quarter. Going against Georgetown Visitation's full-court press for most of the first half, Holy Child (4-2) managed just 11 points in the first two periods and the Cubs took a 10-point lead into halftime despite their poor shooting .
"For the most part, they were getting one shot, and then we were going the other way," McCarthy said. "When every shot's contested, you're rushing it, and you just don't shoot as well. I'm just proud of the defense, but I would never have said that a week ago."
McCarthy realized the defense could be stout again this season when the Cubs suffocated taller teams in the Tina Thompson Classic last weekend. Against No. 13 Good Counsel on Sunday, Georgetown Visitation shut out the Falcons in the second quarter and held them to just 36 points for the game.
What the Cubs lack in height, they make up for in speed and athleticism. Almost every Holy Child pass was contested, if not stolen, and even when the Tigers did come down with rebounds, a Georgetown Visitation player would often try to rip the ball away under the basket.
Hot shooting from guard Alexis Gray, a Loyola recruit who finished with 22 points, helped extend the Cubs' lead to 37-15 entering the fourth quarter, but the pressure didn't ease up. Even in the final minute, with a considerable lead, Georgetown Visitation players would yell to each other to defend the Holy Child player with the ball.
"Defense is mainly what our team's about," Gray said. "That's how we want to be known."
Source : http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/no-8-georgetown-visitation-downs-holy-child-57-29-with-its-defense/2014/12/16/734d5f8e-8482-11e4-b9b7-b8632ae73d25_story.html
