Don’t call it payback—call it taking care of business. That’s the message Poly (13-2, 3-0) coach Carl Buggs wanted to send to his team prior to taking on the Millikan Rams (13-3, 2-1) last night, a game they won 47-37. “That (upset) was like four games ago,” said Buggs after the win. “We beat them the second time we played, and then in the CIF championship. There’s nothing to talk about.” He went on to say that while the threat the Rams posed in the past didn’t matter, their ability in the present very much did. “It’s their home court, so we expected them to come out with a lot of fire. It was important for us to match their intensity.”
They matched it and then some, using their size and strength to power them to a 31-20 rebounding advantage, and putting in 20 second-chance points. The key to Poly’s inside dominance wasn’t just sheer height, however (though with three players over 6′ to Millikan’s one, they do have that advantage as well). The real key was the emergence of Ta’Nitra Byrd, a junior transfer from Hawaii who announced her arrival in a big way, with 12 rebounds (nine of them offensive), two blocks, and 14 points. Perhaps more importantly, her strong anchor in the paint freed Monique Oliver up to do…well, pretty much whatever she wanted. At 6’3″, and very strong, Oliver is usually thought of as an inside threat—which she is. But she’s tooled her game up since last season, and the scariest weapon in that arsenal has to be a perimeter shot—she was 3-3 from beyond the arc.
It was evident early in the game that Poly’s size was intimidating to Millikan’s speedy, undersized guards, as four of the Rams’ first five shots were three-point attempts. Between the inability to penetrate, and the tight defensive play of Poly’s guards, who didn’t give up many open looks early, Millikan was held to just 27% from the field in the first half, while Poly shot 50%. A 17-9 rebounding advantage also afforded Poly ten more shots than Millikan in the first half, a big part of how they ended up leading 32-16.
The Rams started the second half on a 4-0 run, but a quick Poly timeout resulted in a 9-2 Jackrabbits run.
Millikan was somewhat successful in the third and fourth quarters, limiting Poly to just 15 points, but in the end they were only able to narrow the gap to ten. Leaders for the Jackrabbits were Byrd, whose presence next to Oliver in the paint is going to make Poly even more versatile on both ends of the court, as well as Oliver, who had eleven points and eight rebounds. Ariya Crook-Williams grabbed two steals and did a good job distributing the ball as an off-the-bench point guard. For the Rams, their lone big Hilary Drinovsky grabbed eleven rebounds but struggled offensively, as the transfer still seems to be settling in. Seqouia Hernandez, an immensely impressive freshman, led the team with 13 points on 5/8 shooting (3-3 3PTs), with three assists and two steals. The team’s most reliable producers this season, Jaslyn Cosey and Ashley Mitchell, were held to a combined 4/17 for 13 points.
“Their size advantage obviously created a tough matchup for us,” said Millikan coach Lorene Morgan. “Our game plan going forward is going to have to be getting our post players to move their feet, and do a better job boxing out. We’re not going to win being outrebounded like that, or giving up that many put-back points.”
Putting last year’s upset behind us, this game demonstrated exactly what’s so impressive about Poly—playing a great team (Millikan is ranked third in CIF, two spots behind the ‘Rabbits), they were able to turn their physical advantage into an insurmountable obstacle, disrupt the opponent’s offense, and overpower their defense. But as Morgan gets more time to teach her younger players, and work with her transfer, the pieces may still come together to make the rematch between these two teams (at Poly in early February) a game to remember. And, if last season was any indication, this rivalry may reach deep, deep into the playoffs.