Defensive pressure lifts CBA girls in Harrell's debut as head coach

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on November 19, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Midway through the third quarter, Charles B. Aycock head basketball coach Roy Harrell wasn't sure about what was about to happen.

He directed his girls to move from a zone pressing defense that had caused turnovers all evening into a man-to-man press -- a defense the team had hardly practiced up to that point.

They responded with aggressive pressure, forcing as many turnovers as points they allowed (four) to end the quarter. Aycock continued the pressure in the fourth quarter and triumphed 60-47 over South Johnston in Harrell's head coaching debut.

"We've really practiced man to man almost zero," Harrell said. "We've worked on the 2-1-2 full court press ... I thought they did well with that in-your-face pressure. We got to communicate more, but that's on the coaching staff not on them because we haven't worked on it."

The Golden Falcons forced 18 turnovers. Tanika Powell, who tore her ACL last season, collected six steals.

Powell and Taylor Daniels led a composed backcourt that set up Myleah Jones down low. Jones finished with 26 points, while Powell had five assists and Daniels had four. The energy shown from Powell and Daniels impressed Harrell.

"I love their aggressiveness," Harrell said. "I love their intensity. Taylor is just a blue-collar worker. She does all the little things right. You never have to worry about her ... Tanika has great court vision, sees the floor really well. And she has great anticipation on defense that showed tonight."

The effort pleased Harrell, but said the team didn't play as they had in preseason scrimmages.

The Golden Falcons looked in control all game, but the Trojans were able to stay alive with their long-range shooting. Anna Webster knocked down five of her team's seven triples. The Trojans used skip passes and good ball movement over top of the Golden Falcons' zone defense in the first half.

Webster finished with 21 for the Trojans and McKinley Johnson had 12.

"I don't think we anticipated that (South Johnston was) going to move the ball and shoot as well as they did," Harrell said. "(South Johnston) did a great job."

Ashley Darden chipped in 17 points for CBA , and Daniels had seven. Most of the reserves played toward the end, but the starters logged plenty of minutes.

"We have to get them in game shape," said Harrell, who played the first half with a short bench. "We can't wait until conference comes to get those legs under us. I've got a good core of reserves to come in, but we got to get the starters ready."