There’s nothing quite like a west Long Beach block party, a lesson the Troy Warriors girls’ basketball team learned the hard way in a semifinal game against the Poly Jackrabbits at Cabrillo High on Saturday night, as the ‘Rabbits rolled to a 46-34 victory in front of a packed house. Poly used a fairly significant height advantage (about five inches on each post player) to put a roof over the Warriors, with five first-quarter blocks, and a stifling defense that kept Troy from scoring until halfway through the first quarter, as Poly started on an 11-0 run, and finished the first quarter up 18-5.
The Jackrabbits did a much better job of containing Troy’s drive-and-kick offense than they did against a similar scheme in their last game, against Corona Santiago. Of course, the verticality of Poly’s bigs played a big part in the defensive effort, but a lot of the credit has to go the guards. Their ball defense was tighter than it was against Santiago, giving less space for Troy to move or dribble in—as a result, no penetration. As a result of that, Poly’s bigs didn’t need to crash inside to help with the slasher, and so there weren’t nearly as many open looks in the first half for the Warriors. “We worked on that in practice,” said coach Carl Buggs after the game. “A lot.” That work resulted in Troy, a hot-shooting team that averages 21 3-point attempts a game this season, sinking a grand total of two from beyond the arc in the first half.
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On the other side of the court, Poly’s size keyed a quick start, with Monique Oliver playing a dominant game in the paint—almost all of the ‘Rabbits’ 28 first-half points came from inside, either from Oliver or another big, or from a slashing guard who found room to shoot in the paint with a taller teammate screening the Troy defense. Due in large part to the excellent shot selection, as well as Poly’s accuracy from the mid-range when they did choose to shoot, they were better than 50% from the field in the first half—they also only attempted four three-pointers all game.
Now, all of that was the first half—Poly didn’t play their best game for the first sixteen minutes, but they played at a level that will be hard to beat, even with eight second-quarter turnovers. Their defensive pressure and offensive efficiency spurred a 28-13 halftime lead.
But then there was the second half, sixteen minutes of basketball which Troy won 21-18. To be fair (and we’re not in the habit of calling out refs on this website), the officiating was…let’s say wonky. The refs called kickballs travels, double dribbles on fast breaks, and offensive fouls away from the ball with minimal contact—we’re not sure we’ve seen both sides of a gym that upset, frustrated, and confused by on-court calls in some time. So the rhythm of the final two quarters was definitely hiccupy. That said, many of the things Poly did well in the first half, they did poorly in the second.
They didn’t stop the dribble on Troy’s penetration, meaning that the Warriors got a lot more open looks on the perimeter—they also didn’t run their offense with as much success, mustering just ten points in the third quarter and just eight in the final period. “I think we forgot how we got ahead,” said Buggs after the game. “We do still have a lot of room for improvement. We wanted our bigs to be productive, and they were in the first half, but we need to be more consistent.”
That said, with the first half performance, and the size advantage, the ‘Rabbits brought more than enough to the Cabrillo gym on Friday night. The effect the size advantage had can maybe be summed up best through two symbolic plays (this isn’t counting the number of times a Warrior guard would drive to the lane and throw ball up, only to have Monique Oliver or Sheila Boykin slap it back down). The first was the tip, when Troy ceded the jump ball, putting their shortest starter in the circle with Monique Oliver, giving her an uncontested ball and dropping immediately into their defense—they didn’t have anyone who could jump with her, and that clearly wasn’t going to change between Oliver knocking the ball into the backcourt and Ariya Crook-Williams bringing it down the floor. The second was a play later in the first quarter, when Thaddesia Southall (Poly’s tallest player) had the ball and was holding it over her head, trying to find a teammate to pass it to. As Troy’s Alex Sanchez (their best player and scorer) and a teammate jumped up and down, trying to get a hand on it, Southall looked around calmly, before being fouled by a frustrated Sanchez.
The Warriors’ leading scorer on the season, Sanchez was held to just 13 points, five below her average; leaders for the Jackrabbits were Brittany Wilson, who had 11 points; Monique Oliver, who had ten points, eight boards, and three blocks; and Thaddesia Southall, with two points, five rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a block (part of an 8-block team effort). Credit also to Sheila Boykin, whose recovery from her knee surgery seems to be coming along, as she got a little playing-time bump from the game earlier in the week. Having a six-footer with the ability to defend Sanchez in the open court (and come away with a steal, as well), along with Boykin’s inside abilities and natural passing talent is yet another boon to Poly’s already deep bench.
The Jackrabbits now advance to—and this is true—their eight straight CIF championship game. They’ve won the last three state titles. But while Poly has the history, their upcoming foe, Cajon, is a worthy adversary, as they beat Perris last night 66-32 in a semifinal whose second half was played with a running clock. The game time/date hasn’t been announced, but we’d anticipate a Saturday evening affair—of course we’ll update you as soon as we know. And please, stay tuned to LBPostSports.com all week, as we bring you previews with more details than you’d probably even care to know, as well as features on some of the ‘Rabbits who’ll be playing in the CIF title game next weekend.