 |
|
Debbie Ryan’s switch to zone helped slow down VT. |
There aren’t many people in women’s basketball circles that would call Debbie Ryan a zone coach. Truthfully many would snicker at the thought of UVa’s long-time coach being labeled in such a way. In fact, even Ryan chuckled at herself after a switch to zone defense helped propel Virginia past rival Virginia Tech, 69-61, on Sunday at the John Paul Jones Arena.
“I would say that was probably the most zone I’ve played in my life,” said Ryan with a laugh after being asked if that’s the most zone her team had played this season. “I’m not much of a zone coach, but I thought we really did a nice job of spreading it out and forcing people to shoot shots they don’t want to shoot. We got their percentage back down and that is really what we wanted to do. … We went to zone and that was really the answer for the game. We played very smart in it, and we were able to rebound out of it and that was the key.”
Clearly, the Cavaliers’ zone worked on Sunday. The Hokies lit up the scoreboard early by making 10 of their first 12 shots, but after Ryan flipped out of the man-to-man defense, the Hoos clamped down on defense. The rest of the way, VT made just 15 of 49 shots (30.6%) while facing mostly zone from the hosts.
In fact, Ryan noted that Virginia recorded 12 consecutive defensive stops after making the switch; she said she’s not going to stop using something if its working so once the zone sparked the team, she stayed with it. Cav star Monica Wright, who posted a sterling line of 22 points, 6 steals, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, noted the same number after the game.
“It was horrible. I don’t know what was going on. I don’t know when it clicked, but it did and then we got 12 stops in a row,” Wright said.
UVa’s intentions in the zone were to keep the man-to-man principles of the scouting report. In other words, Ryan wanted her players to be aware of certain players’ tendencies and to keep track of the most likely players to shoot against what appeared to be a 2-3 match-up zone alignment. She even took a few extra moments prior to substituting players like Ariana Moorer and Britny Edwards in order to explain some of the details the zone needed to cover.
Obviously, the strategic maneuver paid dividends. Take Tech’s Lindsay Biggs for example. Against the Cavaliers’ man-to-man defense early in the game, she started off burying shots and quickly posted 11 points in the first 6 minutes. After that? The Hoos held Biggs to 3 the rest of the way.
 |
|
|
|
Monica Wright had 22 points and 6 steals against Virginia Tech. |
“It is tougher when they go in to zone to get shots off because they are playing a wider defense and I can’t run off screens or get open as easily,” Biggs said. “We just needed to attack it a little better and get the ball in the paint a little more – I don’t think we did that enough.”
Once the Cavaliers cooled off the Hokies’ hot shooting, they were able to climb back from a deficit that reached 25-10 at the 10:24 mark of the half. Over the next 5 minutes, Virginia strung together a 15-0 run to tie the game. By intermission, the Hoos edged ahead 35-32 and while they never completely shook off the visitors, they did enough to pick up win No. 19 on the season.
Not surprisingly, Wright teamed up with Lyndra Littles and Aisha Mohammed to lead the way offensively. In addition to Wright’s big line noted above, Littles poured in 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Mohammed, meanwhile, chipped in 13 points and 9 rebounds, which included an impressive final 7 minutes where she had 7 points and 4 rebounds.
The Hoos also got a solid outing from Kelly Hartig, who registered 3 points to go with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. That doesn’t count the dirty work of physical defense, screen setting, tipped balls, and the like, a list of things that Hartig has success in doing.
“She is in on a lot of tipped balls that we end up rebounding, she’s always in there with it when there’s physical play down low. She sees the game extremely well and is getting better at that,” Ryan said. “She made an offensive move and scored today too. The more she can do that, the better for us.”
(For complete coverage of the Virginia basketball team, please sign up for the Sabre Edge. EDGE subscribers get exclusive analysis, features, and more!)
