Boys and Girls never wavered in its offensive attack against the Queens High School of Teaching on Saturday, and it paid off with a convincing win.
It was all part of the Kangaroos’ plan to break through the Queens school’s trademark zone strategy.
“The game plan was to attack the basket because they came out in a zone,” said Boys and Girls junior guard Gianni Ford. “When a team is playing a zone, you don’t want to settle for too many jump shots. If you attack the basket, you can create open layups and open shots on the floor.”
The Boys and Girls boys’ basketball team’s aggressiveness on both ends of the floor — especially in the second half — was the key to its 68–52 victory against the Tigers on Jan. 31 at the Benjamin Cardozo Classic.
“The way we played defense today allowed us to get out in transition,” said Boys and Girls coach Ruth Lovelace. “We forced turnovers and turned them into points.”
Boys and Girls struggled to get things going on the offensive end to start the game as the Tigers made it tough to get to the hoop, and matched the Kangaroos’ hustle up and down the court.
Boys and Girls, which led 17–12 after one quarter, saw its fast-paced offense begin to have an effect in the second quarter. It opened the frame with a 15–8 run, and went into halftime leading 35–31. And the Kangaroos didn’t let up.
“We didn’t want them to come back in the second half,” Ford said, “so we had to step on their throats.”
Boys and Girls came out in the second half and out-hustled and out-scored the Tigers. Ford paced Boys and Girls with 20 points for the game, and the team’s effort more than pleased Coach Lovelace.
“I really liked the defensive intensity in the second half and the way we played together,” she said. “We shared the ball and made the extra pass. If they do that it will be tough to beat us.”
Boys and Girls (13–6) controlled the defensive glass and immediately pushed the tempo. The Kangaroos’ hustle on both ends of the floor allowed Boys and Girls to out-score Queens High School of Teaching 15–4 in the quarter, and take a 50–35 lead into the final frame.
The victory came during a rough part of the season for the Kangaroos, with four games in a week from Jan. 30 with little practice time beforehand, due to the fact that Boys and Girls was having its home court redone in the first two weeks of January, forcing the postponement of three league games.
“That stretch where we didn’t play hurt us a bit because we didn’t have a game for about three weeks,” Lovelace said. “But we always keep them prepared. It’s coming down to the end. We’re playing for playoff seeding. They know they always have to come prepared.”
