Greencastle bursts Bubblers

By Noah Shatzer

 

GREENCASTLE, Pa. — Facing the Boiling Springs Bubblers’ all-guard lineup, Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball coach Mike Rhine knew that his Blue Devils needed to switch things up on the defensive end.

 

Literally.

 

The Blue Devils (11-3, 8-0 Mid-Penn Colonial) attempted to switch defenders on every screen to ensure that no Bubbler received the ball without a defender scrambling in front of her. Greencastle’s suffocating defense succeeded, holding Boiling Springs (5-10, 2-6) to a season-low in points to come away with a 43-22 victory Friday night.

 

“They kind of run a five-guard offense. They don’t really have a true post player,” Rhine said. “And the easiest way to guard it is to play a match-up zone. As opposed to fighting through screens, just switch. All their players are about the same size, they’re all good 3-point shooters.”

 

The Greencastle defensive effort was headed by senior Ashley True, who was tasked with slowing down the main cog in Boiling Springs’ offense, Sydney Hemler. True pressured Hemler the entire night, holding her to just four points, well below her season-average of 11.2 points per game.

 

“Sydney is a really awesome player and you can’t let her get the ball and get momentum,” Rhine said. “And that’s what Ashley True did for us and that’s a big difference. I told her, ‘You’re going to play as long as Sydney does tonight. If Sydney gets a break, you’ll get one. Otherwise, you’re playing them all,’ but it turned out we got a bit of a lead and I got to give her a little break.”

 

Offensive struggles had plagued the Blue Devils recently, but Greencastle got back on track against Boiling Springs. Despite a slow start to the game, Greencastle held a 10-7 lead over Boiling Springs after the first quarter, before increasing its lead to 21-12 at halftime.

 

The Blue Devils pushed the pedal to the floor in the second half, outscoring the Bubblers 15-8 in the third, then holding Boiling Springs to just two points in the final quarter while scoring seven.

 

Although the Blue Devils did not have a single player reach double digits in scoring, Rhine said that was a result of the girls making smart plays and avoiding playing “hero ball.”

 

“I thought that was the difference tonight,” Rhine said. “I thought the girls did a great job of handling changing defenses. Every time I looked out there, one time it's a triangle-two, one time it's full zone, one time it's man.

 

Tto our kids’ credit, they adjusted fairly well. Boiling Springs was prepared for us, our kids just did a nice job.”

 

Madison Sweitzer led the Blue Devils with nine points and six rebounds. Ashley True and Lydia Crist tallied seven points each, while Sayge Wilhide chipped in six points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. McKenna Rakaczwewski had team highs in assists (five) and steals (three).

 

“We’re learning, we’re playing hard, we’re having fun and we’re fortunate to score enough points,” Rhine said.

 

“We’re not an offensive juggernaut by any means, but we do play good defense and we will fight you to the end.

 

"Total team effort tonight, I couldn’t be happier.”