It took about half the game to get going, but the Sioux Falls Washington women’s basketball team made progress in transition and defeated Sioux Falls Roosevelt 69-43 on Friday, February 20th.
The Rough Riders were intent on getting the ball to 6-foot-3 sophomore Kalli Harris, which slowed the game down significantly. Roosevelt held on in the first half and Washington’s half-court offense struggled, but the Warriors still led 34-23 at the break.
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“You have to give Roosevelt credit,” Washington coach Jamie Parrish said. “The first thing they do is keep driving the basketball into the paint, which makes all our kids go down to protect the rim. And then it’s a longer run when you have to go down and be physical.”
The Warriors know they’re at their best in transition and are trying to get there more often at halftime.
“When we got in there, we knew we could play better, we knew we could make easy shots, but we wanted to get the best shots by swinging, moving, touching the ball a lot,” senior guard Dana Happ said.
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Parrish knew it wouldn’t be easy against a gritty, hard-playing Roosevelt team, and he emphasized to his daughters that they needed to stretch the court and run the lanes to get the ball down the court faster.
“We were told they weren’t going to roll over and die, so we have to do our part and continue to play hard and continue to play as a team,” senior guard Rylan Kennett said.
Washington got up quickly in the second half, going on a 12-3 run at the beginning of the third quarter to put the game away.
“We are a team that thrives in transition,” Happ said. “We’re a very long team. We’re going to be out there in five seconds. I feel like that shows up defensively as well. If we get good defensive possessions, we’re going to be out, and I feel like that works out for us.”
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The Warriors got a lot of fast break opportunities from the defense, whether it was steals or long rebounds. Parrish wants his girls to shoot more 3-pointers for longer rebounds, and Roosevelt sophomore Henlee Loof also knocked down some 3-pointers. Still, Washington is stuck in an aggressive 2-3 zone, which has led them to a 14-3 record on the year.
“We tried to be more manly and they got a couple baskets out of it,” Parrish said. “We were more comfortable in our zone. It’s something we practice and it’s something we stick with. We do give our kids a little freedom to chase kids in the zone. Our zone can change shape and do some things.”
Washington has now won two straight after losing to Brandon Valley and O’Gorman at home. The Warriors hope to play as well as they did in the second half of the regular season, the rest of the games and the playoffs.
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“No matter who we play, we need to play to our standard every game because that’s the only way we’re going to get better,” Kennett said.
This article originally appeared in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Washington women’s basketball uses transition to get past Roosevelt
