GoZips Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 Well, the gals won their exhibition game ... barely.Against a Slippery Rock division two team that seemed to have a better understanding ofthe game the Lady Zips still prevailed. The LZs out muscled and out defensed thewell organized Slippery Rock team.In the first half "the Rock" used a nice zone defense to frustrate the cold shooting LZs.It was, in a word, ugly. The Rock led by eight at the break. Thoughts of another embarrassing loss rolled through my concerned noggin.But, Coach Kest lit a bonfire under her charges at half time. The LZs turned up thedefensive pressure and the Rock slowly unraveled. The LZs turned the eight pointdeficit into a seven point lead. When the Rock finally responded with a nice run oftheir own the LZs took back the lead.At the end the LZs found out what they are made of. They closed out the victory bymaking timely shots and free throws while denying the Rock open looks and the LZsgot solid defensive rebounds. The LZs took the victory.Observations:Kest's influence is showing up nicely. The LZs are still awful. They have a hugemountain to climb. But, Kest's influence and coaching is paying off. There are improvements to go along with the atrocious ball handling and poor shot selection.Kest has installed a motion type offense that the LZs ran until either they werestripped of the ball or the shot clock got them. That is to say, the LZs do not fullygrasp the nuances of getting open looks and recognizing when to shoot. They willlearn in a short time.I hope the team gets to watch the game film. Over and over Coach Kest has stressedgetting hands up on defense. Slippery Rock does this. The LZs do not.I thoroughly enjoyed watching the two freshman guards, Danyelle and Sarah learninghow to be a point guard. The really nice touch to this is that either lady can and didsurprise the Rock players with timely shots that scored. The Rock players were notexpecting a point guard to pull up and shoot. Nice touch.The core of experienced veterans led the second half charge. They made the difference.This team is not likely to win many games against division one opponents at thisjuncture. As Coach Kest has stated, by season's end they will be competitive. Ifully agree. Overall, I like what I see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippyrifle32 Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 i was happy to see how much the team has improved. there even appeared to be more swager in the ladies' step. from my understanding, there is no true point guard on the team, but people filling the position until they can recruit one for next year. still a lot of work that needs to be done, but i'm looking forward to this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Simply put, Sarah Tokodi, West Virginia Ms Basketball, is the best guard the school has ever recruited. She is the one who will eventually make the engine purr. She can put the ball in the hoop bigtime, and lead the defensive pressure that is Jody Kest's bread and butter. If things work out, we could see both our men's and women's teams playing agressive defensive -- and winning -- basketball.Yet more simply, Go Zips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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