GIRLS' BASKETBALL: Princeton's junk defense nags Rosewood

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 6, 2017 9:59 AM

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PRINCETON -- Opposing teams have thrown numerous junk defenses at Rosewood this season with the intention of keeping Braylee Butts from becoming an offensive nightmare.

Butts had seen it all -- particularly the box-and-one.

But this time, the scheme proved difficult to solve much like a Rubik's cube.

Princeton's Megan Bryant played a brand of stifling, in-your-face defense for nearly three-plus quarters that not only frustrated Butts, but her teammates, too. The Bulldogs held the Eagles without a field goal for 18 1/2 minutes and claimed a 45-36 victory in Carolina 1-A Conference play Thursday evening.

The Dogs halted a 13-game skid in the series.

"I really felt like she wasn't working hard enough. I know she's a great player," Bryant said. "She could have done a whole lot more on her part because I know she's so good, but I felt like she just kind of gave up. She was kind of walking around and I took advantage of it."

The Eagles looked stagnant with Butts taken out of the offense.

Rosewood (4-8 overall, 3-1 Carolina) settled for the outside shot instead of attacking the lane to draw a defender and create a high-percentage shot at the basket. Butts and Payton Lane combined for five of the Eagles' eight first-half points.

Uncharacteristic for a team that averages 49 points a game.

"She's (Butts) their leading scorer, but Payton Lane is right behind her," Bryant said. "She could have done just as good I feel like. I feel like we worked really hard on it (defense), but they were really frustrated. I know it."

Emily Ricks provided some early offense and Jazmaine McCain, as usual, cleaned the glass like a window washer. Ricks delivered six points in the opening quarter and McCain added four points off offensive rebounds.

McCain logged a double-double -- 21 points, 17 rebounds. She swatted away four Rosewood shots. Ricks chipped in nine points, three rebounds and three assists.

"In the first half, they hit us and I don't think we took the punch too well," first-year Eagles head coach Tee Wooten said. "Then we came back the second half, changed some stuff up and came back to make it a game."

Rosewood trailed by 11 after three quarters, but displayed an aggressive mentality and attacked the paint during the final eight minutes. The Eagles converted a couple of second-chance opportunities and trimmed the deficit to within two possessions on several occasions.

But the downfall came at the stripe -- a woeful 7 of 16 performance which mystified Wooten. The Eagles finished 12 of 29 overall, including a combined 11 of 17 effort from Butts and Lane.

"Yesterday, we shot free throws in five three-minute periods," Wooten said. "I know that can be our Achilles' heel and we didn't knock them down tonight. You've got to do the little things to grind these games out. We're going to keep going after it and play the style of basketball we play."