Final from Bellevue.  

Russell drops their first game of the season.  

Holy Cross wins by 13 despite being outshot 54% to 38%. Russell only got off 33 shots compared to 55 for the Indians. I'm not familiar with Holy Cross' defensive M-O, so I'm left to assume they pressured the Devils into a plethora of turnovers?

39 minutes ago, DevilMayCare said:

Holy Cross wins by 13 despite being outshot 54% to 38%. Russell only got off 33 shots compared to 55 for the Indians. I'm not familiar with Holy Cross' defensive M-O, so I'm left to assume they pressured the Devils into a plethora of turnovers?

I wasn't there, but yes, they are a run and jump pressure team and it causes many people a lot of trouble.  I once heard this from a coach describing Holy Cross' 'offensive game plan':   "..  their offense is completely predicated on taking it away from you for easy buckets...". Probably a bit of an exaggeration, but they certainly make everything you want to do very difficult.  

28 minutes ago, The Double Deuce said:

I wasn't there, but yes, they are a run and jump pressure team and it causes many people a lot of trouble.  I once heard this from a coach describing Holy Cross' 'offensive game plan':   "..  their offense is completely predicated on taking it away from you for easy buckets...". Probably a bit of an exaggeration, but they certainly make everything you want to do very difficult.  

Russell may have gotten a taste of its own medicine. They're usually the ones creating havoc.

One last note from me on this game: 7th grader Kenley Kouns played well in defeat, scoring a game high 18 on 9/10 FGs. She's a name to file away for the future of Russell girl's basketball. 

1 hour ago, DevilMayCare said:

Holy Cross wins by 13 despite being outshot 54% to 38%. Russell only got off 33 shots compared to 55 for the Indians. I'm not familiar with Holy Cross' defensive M-O, so I'm left to assume they pressured the Devils into a plethora of turnovers?

They focus alot on high pressure defense, press and trapping. This leads to a fair amount of points in transition.  They also shoot a lot of threes.  Looking at the KHSAA stats from that game HC took 25 three point shots and Russell took 9. 

3 minutes ago, DevilMayCare said:

Russell may have gotten a taste of its own medicine. They're usually the ones creating havoc.

One last note from me on this game: 7th grader Kenley Kouns played well in defeat, scoring a game high 18 on 9/10 FGs. She's a name to file away for the future of Russell girl's basketball. 

She played well.  You would have never guessed she was a 7th grader. She will definitely be one to watch in the future. 

20 minutes ago, rjal said:

They focus alot on high pressure defense, press and trapping. This leads to a fair amount of points in transition.  They also shoot a lot of threes.  Looking at the KHSAA stats from that game HC took 25 three point shots and Russell took 9. 

That's by far a season low for the Devils. It's hard to settle into a half court offense for clean perimeter looks when you're constantly being hounded.

HC was able to get some turnovers but also outrebounded Russell on the boards by 8. HC has a nice team with multiple players that can carry the scoring load.

Good team for Russell to play. The experience will be valuable to this team that has experienced players in Kennedy Darnell and Gabby Oborne along with the lone senior, Bethany Allen, but also a 7th grader, two eighth graders, and a freshman that have seen the court quite a bit. Given that Russell lost around 68% of its key scoring, they have had some players do a good job stepping it up when you think about who they lost. Bella Quinn having graduated and she is now starting for the NCAA Division II Kutztown Golden Bears as a freshman and for the first time since the 2018 season Russell has somebody other than Shaelyn Steele running the point (Shaelyn has earned the opportunity to see the court some at Penn State) while also losing strong rebounders in Hannah Sanders and Courtney Fitzpatrick. This young team is in a pretty good spot right now. They'll take some hits early on but look to be on a good track to be a problem for anybody they face by the end of the season. Mandy Layne has had at least 20 wins in each season since her first regional title in 2016 (including the COVID season) and at least 26 wins in five of those years.

This is a good team for Russell to play, the 9th region is tough. Five 20+ win teams last year and the champion, Cooper, gave Sacred Heart a good run in the final four. HC is a double overtime away against Highlands from being undefeated and I'm sure they'll be in contention when the playoffs roll around.