Oct. 13, 2011
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team began official practice on October 3 and has about a month left before it opens its season against Alabama State on Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at The Arena at Gwinnett.
Today, head coach MaChelle Joseph had her team play a full 40 minute scrimmage against the practice squad.
“I saw some good things from our seniors,” Joseph said. “Metra Walthour’s three-point shooting has stood out to me. She made some clutch threes with the shot clock running down, continues to improve and is very consistent. Sasha Goodlett on the inside, running the floor, I thought she looked good early on in the scrimmage. I continue to see growth from our younger players, learning the system and what we want. I thought in the first half, we had some great scoring. To score 40 points in the first half is a lot of points. We’re really looking to push the ball more. With pressing 40 minutes and trying to run offensively the way we are, obviously we have some work to do on conditioning.”
Playing full scrimmages allows the coaching staff to rotate a lot of players in and out, mix up the lineup and see how the team reacts to game situations.
“I think full scrimmages are really important as far as controlling our fouls, where the officials see us because of how aggressively we play on the defensive end, making sure we’re not fouling too much,” Joseph said. “They also help us get our substitution patterns down, and learning how to play together and where things fit as far as chemistry and substitution. I think they’re also really important for players to see how we do things in a game situation, especially the freshmen.”
Ah, the freshman. Tech only has three rookies on the squad this year, but the very talented trio is expected to contribute right away.
“I saw some good things today from Sydney Wallace and Sarah Hartwell,” Joseph said. “I thought they both played well on the offensive end. They’re all continuing to struggle on the defensive end, learning our system because it is very complex, but I feel like they’re making progress and getting better.”
As Joseph noted in Tuesday’s press conference, with 12 letterwinners back from last year, she isn’t the only one who has to teach, saying she basically has 12 coaches out on the floor to help.
Georgia Tech begins fall break after classes on Friday and Joseph has one more practice scheduled before she cuts her team loose for a few days.
“I thought having a good practice today was really important, and we have one more practice tomorrow before we take off a few days,” Joseph said. “Fall break is really important for the team, not only to get rest physically, but mentally too. This is a time of year where they need some rest from school, and need a break to regroup and get ready for the season.”
And the season is getting closer.
Only 30 days before tip-off of another slate of college hoops.
–RamblinWreck.com–
