sprinter14 wrote:Last night, the Chillicothe Girls Junior High teams traveled to Jackson to play basketball. The 8th Grade Jackson Lady Ironmen won the lopsided affair by a final score of 80 to 3. Congratulations on a very good fundamental basketball team!! However, I am going to question the means by which the score was run to 80 points.
First I have to give the background. These girls played Jackson twice last year as 7th graders and already played once this season. All 3 previous games had resulted in similar blowout scores in favor of Jackson. So coming into this game, the Jackson coach had to know she was favored by 60 plus.
We had only 8 players last night for the Lady Cavs. Four of whom had violated team policy and would be benched for the first quarter. I applaud our coach for starting 4 players against Jackson’s 5. Our coach told the Jackson coach what his plan was and her reply was that she would not press while we had four on the court.
Jackson’s first 2 points were on the board literally 5 seconds into the game. Less than 4 minutes in, the score was already 15 to 0. As soon as our fifth player checked into the game, the Jackson coach immediately turned on the full court press with a lead somewhere near 20 to 0.
With 17 seconds remaining in the half, and the score 36 to 0 in favor of Jackson, the coach told her players to “look at the clock†to make sure they hit that last 3 pointer to go up 39 to 0 at the half.
Throughout the second half, the impressive Lady Ironmen continued to roll up the points. Stealing the ball at will from out inept ball handlers and driving the length of the court for layups. Stopping only occasionally to nail the 3 pointers that helped increase the lead even faster.
Finally……..mercifully, with 1:11 to play in the game, the Jackson coach told her players to “slow it downâ€. And the girls quit driving in the layups and began holding the ball to run the clock out. I guess since the 100 mark was out of reach, it wasn’t worth trying anymore.
Final score 80 to 3
Now, here’s my points
First in Jackson’s defense:
1) She only had 7 players and she did a good job of playing all seven. She didn’t have a lot of inexperienced kids to sub in.
2) She shouldn’t have started 4 just because we did (and she didn‘t). Our kids were the ones in trouble, not hers.
3) I agree, you never tell your kids NOT to play hard
4) Jackson’s coach also looks to be 20 years old or younger, so maybe she hasn’t learned etiquette yet.
But here is my beef with this………..there is STILL a thing known as ETIQUETTE in sports.
This was clearly a case of the famous quote, “name your scoreâ€. And the Lady Ironmen coach named her score to the tune of 80 to 3. I honestly believe she would have been content with 100 to 0.
My take on it………please correct me if I’m wrong, but I have coached before and this is what I would have done: Jackson’s coach should have:
1) Never pressed in a game when you are favored by 60
2) Maybe pull a player and played 4 on 4 once you are up 15 only four minutes into the game.
3) Pull your defense back into a zone to allow the opposing team to attempt to run something that resembles an offense.
4) Ask your girls to quit driving the ball the length of the court for uncontested layups and instead setting up and running plays. Work on offensive strategies with 5 passes before any shot.
5) and no 3 pointers!! I would have told the girls after 5 passes, somebody take a sensible 2 pointer.
Now, this is not asking the girls to NOT play hard. This is just changing the strategy of the game to name your score a little differently. More to the tune of 65 to 15 or something of the nature.
Now, is Jackson’s coach or the fans PROUD of winning 80 to 3 instead of something closer to 65 to 15??
Show me anyone who would rather win 80 - 3 and I will show you one sad, sad, sad individual.
One last thing:
Thank you to the referees, games like that are the hardest to call and they gave us some favorable calls.
Also, thank you to the Jackson fans who applauded when our girl hit our only field goal of the night!!
And to the Jackson fan who hollered to the girls to “keep playin hard and work on your game†and cheered SOO loudly when the girls were scoring into the 70’s……..well, I can’t say to you what I’d like to on this board……….
let me guess.......
an older gentleman recording the game with a hand held cam corder
...no surprise 
