Usually basketball stories are written with individual stars or performances in mind, but W.T. Woodson’s victory over South County was truly a team triumph.
The Cavs used a stifling 2-3 zone defense to hold South County to 14% shooting from the field en route to a 33-15 home victory in the first round of the Patriot Tournament Tuesday night. Rarely do you see a team’s zone stay as active as Woodson’s did over the course of an entire game, but the Cavs never let up. There wasn’t much trapping but there was always constant movement and excellent rotations. It was impressive.
“Being able to fly around the court even if it is in a 2-3 zone is key,” Woodson coach Aseem Rastogi said after the game. “Our kids are always sprinting to close out and we drill that constantly. The way we practice is everybody gets first team reps; the kids today came in and just did their jobs.”
Rastogi used 11 players and the defense didn’t seem to suffer at any point. South County was only 2-16 from three-point range and could not get inside much to get good looks at the rim. The Stallions also could not draw much contact to get to the line, either. They shot only eight free throws overall and didn’t attempt their first free throw until midway through the third quarter.
“Hard to force them out of the zone if you’re not knocking down shots,” South County coach Patrick Noel said after the game. “One of our downfalls all season long has been our inability to consistently knock down shots.”
That despite the Stallions playing some fairly good defense themselves. Freshman guard Gabriella San Diego did score seven points to lead the way for the visitors, but down 6-5 after a quarter the young Stallions could get no closer than that. It was a disappointing end to the season for Noel’s team, but he is encouraged about the future.
“We’re excited about the young pieces we have,” he said. “This was a tough night but hopefully we can continue to move forward and compete.”
Meanwhile Woodson did get a nice individual performance on offense from freshman Abigail Pesansky, who had 14 points and eight rebounds, also anchoring the middle of the Cavs’ defense. With the win Woodson clinched a berth in the regional tournament and moves on to play top seed T.C. Williams in the Patriot Tournament. To beat the Titans will be a tall task, but Rastogi is very pleased with his team’s improvement, which he attributes to work ethic and commitment.
“One of our girls, Rachel Shurberg, came to 80 out of 85 of our workouts and off-season games over the Spring, Summer and Fall,” he said. “That’s starting to show now with the girls that are playing together and have committed to each other.”
“T.C. landed on us last Friday but hey, playoffs everybody starts 0-0. We’re going to have to just continue to go out and do our jobs and stay true to what we know.”
–Chris Jollay
all stats are unofficial
| WOODSON | FG | FT | TP | RB | AST | |
| SHURBERG | 2-7 | 0-1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | |
| DOUGHERTY | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| WILSON | 1-5 | 1-2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | |
| PACHECO | 1-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |
| PESANSKY | 6-13 | 2-6 | 14 | 8 | 0 | |
| Fisher | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| #50 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| McGuire | 1-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| Gill | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Noca | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Meaders | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 13-37 | 5-13 | 33 | 30 | 7 | |
| Threes: Surberg 1-2, Dougherty 1-4, McGuire 0-1, Noca 0-1 | ||||||
| SO. COUNTY | FG | FT | TP | RB | AST | |
| SAN DIEGO | 2-11 | 2-2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | |
| LIRIANO | 0-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| BRADSHER | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| AUSTIN | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| DEBROSSE | 1-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| Taylor | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Caira Dizon | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sy | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Razo | 1-1 | 0-3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| Gamble | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| #2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 5-35 | 3-8 | 15 | 22 | 3 | |
| Threes: San Diego 1-4, Razo 1-1, Liriano 0-2, Taylor 0-2, Sy 0-2, Gamble 0-1, Debrosse 0-1, Caira Dizon 0-3 | ||||||