New year, new style, same goals for Guilford girls basketball
The hardest thing in sports may be turning a loser into a winner in high school sports, where teams at the bottom don’t get higher draft picks or more salary cap space to improve their fortunes.
Guilford began to make its move in girls basketball four years ago, winning 10 conference games for only the fourth time in the program’s 43-year history. And it has continually gotten better, from 10-8 to 10-3 to a school-record 13-5 to another school-record of 14-4 last year. But Guilford graduated eight seniors, including four starters, who led the Vikings to their first two 20-win seasons in school history and its first sectional title game last year.
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Can a new crop of Vikings — playing a new style — continue Guilford’s rise? Coach Mike Jamerson thinks they can, and Tuesday’s NIC-10-opening 49-33 victory over a Jefferson team that is also trying to climb was an encouraging sign.
“We’re not as big as our team last year, but we are faster and I want to use that to our advantage,” Jamerson said. “We are not shooting the ball very well, but that’s OK because our defense leads to our offense.”
Guilford (4-2, 1-0 NIC-10) missed 14 shots in a row at one point and was 9-for-35 early in the second half when it clung to a 21-19 lead. But Guilford’s full-court press forced turnovers on six of Jefferson’s next seven possessions and Guilford went on an 8-for-9 shooting streak — including a pair of 3-pointers — to fuel an 18-0 run that put the game away.
“I love this style. That’s my coaching style,” Jamerson said. “I like to pick up and I like to pressure. We’re a lot faster. And we get to spots a lot quicker with this year’s team.”
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Guilford pressured Jefferson (2-3) into 35 turnovers, with at least half of those before the J-Hawks could advance the ball past the mid-court logo.
“The pressure was really getting to them,” Guilford junior guard Aishah Smith (12 points) said. “I love it. That gets us started. Everyone’s got their momentum and tempo going. That gets us out of the slump of missing and missing and missing.”
A flurry of turnovers changes the entire energy on the court — as Jefferson learned the hard way.
“When you get a taste of seeing your opponent under pressure, it gives you another level of energy,” Jefferson coach Tiffany Lambert said.
In the last two years, Guilford had one of the best centers in the conference and liked to play a half-court game. This year, the Vikings start no one taller than 5-9 and their three leading scorers Tuesday were all 5-6 or shorter.
“Everybody underestimates us because we had eight seniors that graduated and they think everybody left,” 5-6 guard Jaleese Williams (15 points) said. “But we are actually good. We’re all guards, but we are quick, athletic and fast.”
Jefferson used to be the worst team in NIC-10 history, winning one or zero games in the conference for eight straight years from 2012-2019. They were 8-10 in the NIC-10 last year, their most conference wins in 15 years, and are 20-29 the last three years in the league.
Lambert says the J-Hawks, led by sophomore Abigail Bracius’ 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting Tuesday, can finish in the top four in a league dominated by Hononegah and Boylan the last decade. Jefferson hasn’t been top four since it won its only league title and went to state 33 years ago.
“It’s going to be as hard as we make it, but as long as we work together as a team, put in the effort and use our skill set, we should be top four,” Lambert said. “But we have to put all those variables together.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Guilford girls basketball quicker, faster, shorter and relies on press
