Hardworking Knights Face Crucial Game With Roosevelt
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.usThe grind otherwise known as the OIA Red East Conference slate will draw to a close for Castle and girls head basketball coach Jeff McKeown on Thursday when the Knights host Roosevelt in their season finale.
The reward for the Knights? Some much-needed time on the practice floor as McKeown’s team looks ahead to the playoffs, which begin Jan. 27. That is also true this week: three days without a game before the contest with the Rough Riders.
“We’ve been playing every other day, so we’re looking forward to having three practice days in a row,” said McKeown, whose team took a 6-4 record into last Friday evening’s game at home versus Farrington.“We feel like we were getting better, and then we plateaued because we haven’t been able to practice. It will give us a chance to correct some things we’d like to correct.”
The Knights are miles away from where they stood a year ago when they went 1-11 in the Red East. In addition to winning six of their first 10 league games this time around, Castle also pressed the issue in its defeats, staying in contention deep into the fourth quarter.
“I’m happy we’ve figured out how to compete this year,” McKeown said.“We’ve been competitive in every game. We’re still concerned that we have those lapses - two or three minutes here, four minutes there. We’re concerned that those will cost us a critical game in the playoffs, so we’re trying to work through that and be more consistent.”
One thing that has been consistent is McKeown’s rotation, which has included starters Cailee Awa, Nicole Aberilla, Leisha Li’ili’i, Joshelle Lilio, Brittany Hawn and “sixth man,” Brandee Sasaki.
“They’re all capable of scoring 10 points (a game), which is a good night at this level,“McKeown said.“Leisha had a two-game stretch where she carried us with 26 and 21 points. Nicole was really clutch for us versus McKinley (in a 49-45 win) with free throws at the end, and Brittany had three 3’s in the fourth quarter of that game that were huge.”
Defense was an area of emphasis when the Knights opened preseason camp back on Nov. 28, and it has shown up in his team’s play.“We’ve definitely gotten better, defensively,” he said.“We’re doing a better job of helping out, and we’re starting to communicate better. We still have lapses in rotating, and we still need to rebound better, which finishes the defense.”
Turnovers plagued Castle a season ago, and limiting self-imposed miscues remains a priority for the Knights as they look ahead to Thursday’s game against Roosevelt. The Rough Riders won the earlier meeting, 47-40, on Dec. 30 in a game that was closer than the final tabulation would show.
“We led through three quarters before we got into foul trouble, and then they went on a little run,” McKeown said. “We could-n’t get over the hump.
“The thing that Roosevelt does is that they try to turn you over and get easy looks (at the basket),” he added.“If we can omit our turnovers and get back in transition (defensively), we’ll be OK. We turned the ball over too much the last time we played them.”
Thursday’s game also will help to finalize Castle’s seeding for next week’s OIA Post-Season Tournament, although it is likely the Knights will be the fourth seed out of the East, which would pit them against the West’s fifth-seeded team. As of last weekend, that meant Castle would likely travel to Kapolei, where the Knights figure to play either Aiea or Waianae in their first-round contest with an outside chance of also drawing Campbell.
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
