Patience key for Spring Creek girls' basketball
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on January 3, 2014 1:47 PM
rhanchett@newsargus.com
SEVEN SPRINGS -- Building a program takes patience, resilience and understanding.
It takes time, too.
Charlie Cotten has learned on the fly as the head coach of the Spring Creek varsity girls' basketball team. The Gators have shown considerable improvement during Cotten's second season on the bench.
"I think this group is really coachable and they are willing to learn," Cotten said. "That is the biggest thing, just learning the right way to play and learning how to win."
Spring Creek finished winless two years ago, and picked up two victories against North Duplin last season.
This year's squad is 2-7 overall and 1-1 in Carolina 1-A Conference play, including a pre-holiday 82-28 thrashing of Hobbton. Sophomore Amber Buchan poured in a game- and career-high 37 points.
Next is a clash against league newcomer Neuse Charter on Friday.
"Today we got back to practice and tried to get refocused on basketball," Cotten said earlier this week. "A lot of times teams get excited before the break and kind of put basketball on the back burner. Normally, once the holidays are over it's easier to get kids focused on playing one game at a time."
Aside from the win column, the Gators have become a tough opponent that teams can no longer take lightly. The biggest reason for the on-court improvement has been offensive balance.
Buchan is the team's leading scorer and lone player who averages double figures. However, Ashley Marriner (6.4 points/game), Jazlyn Grimes (9.1 ppg) and Tysha Teachey have also developed into offensive weapons.
Four of the Gators' starters are either sophomores or freshmen. Mikeala Duffy is the lone senior.
"You have to score points as a team," Cotten said. "If you have one player doing all of the scoring, it is easy for teams to stop you. This year we have had several girls step up on the offensive end. We are definitely getting better shots this season
"We are getting makeable shots, layups and short jumpers, and as a result we are putting more points on the scoreboard. So far this season we are averaging nearly 40 points per game as opposed to 25 points per game last season."