Holy Cross Cougars

Tonight the Holy Cross Cougars (11 - 15) will take on the PRP Panthers (19 - 11) at 6 pm at Valley High School. The Cougars enter the game winning three of their last four games. Holy Cross enters the 21st District Championship game after defeating the Fairdale Bulldogs (11-18) on Tuesday 38-29. The Cougars were only winning by two with under two minutes remaining before pulling out the victory. They struggled to beat the Bulldogs after they had destroyed them 61-28 in December. PRP enters the 21st District Championship on a six-game winning streak. They defeated Valley on Tuesday night 62-24 to advance to the finals. The Panthers have already beat Holy Cross in their only meeting this year 54 – 30. Last year the Cougars swept the Panthers and won the 21st District Championship 51-42. The Cougars are currently the defending back -to-back district champs but are facing a daunting task tonight to upset the heavily favored Panthers. If Holy Cross plays its best line-up and keep its rotation to seven or eight players they should stay competitive. Coach Schum does have a tendency to play too many girls and can have long scoring droughts and not enough scoring punch on the floor. Another factor will be if Holy Cross can limit second-chance points for PRP while also eliminating their turnovers. The Cougars will need to find a way to spread the ball around. They have a huge tendency of throwing the ball to the right side of the floor and it never reverses. I have attached the projected Holy Cross starting line-up. It would not surprise me if they remove Vasquez and add someone like McKinney or Brothers. It makes too much sense to have someone on the floor that can stretch the defense and hits threes at over 45% since the New Year. They could also go big and add Olivia Murphy to the line-up but they would still be offensively challenged. Holy Cross averages 45.6 points per game. PRP averages 56.9 points per game. Projected Starting Line-up: PG - Gupton SG - Vasquez SF - Scroggins PF - Kaufman C - Hickey Keys to the Game: * Cougars must be able to rebound and eliminate PRP second-chances. * Limit turnovers. Cougar guards can not have 15 turnovers tonight. * Kaufman / Scroggins have to combine for 30 points. * Eliminate PRP transition points. * Scroggins has a tendency to get in foul trouble - she has to be on the floor tonight. * If Vasquez hits three-pointers it can be interesting. Breakdown: The Panthers are lead by a trio of players that can score: Mariah Jones (15.3 ppg), Dayja Evans (13.6 ppg) and Diamond Taylor (12.6 ppg). Dayja is the deep threat hitting on 72 of 209 (34.4%) from long range. Diamond Taylor attacks the basket relentlessly and has shot almost 200 free throws this year. Mariah Jones does most of her work near the basket and shoots almost 50% from the field. Holy Cross has been led by a trio for the past eleven games. Since returning from Christmas Break the Cougars have relied on a big three for scoring during this eleven game stretch: Amber Kaufman (13 ppg), Jordan Scroggins (11.8 ppg) and Gabby Vasquez (5.9 ppg). During the past eleven games it is hard to imagine anyone shooting better than Vasquez. She has hit 18 of 40 (45%) from three point range. The knock on her is her size and Holy Cross never hedges on the pick & roll – usually leading Vasquez to guard a center in the low-post. Sometimes she can disappear because they never run plays to get her shots. It is sometimes baffling that Vasquez & Gupton don't play together more. When Gabby is on the floor it eliminates some of the ball-handling pressure for Neveah. Amber Kaufman has been almost unstoppable penetrating. She scored 18 versus Fairdale and 24 against Presentation recently. Amber’s strength is her ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. She also has a very strong mid-range game. During the past eleven games Amber is shooting 50% from the field. Jordan Scroggins is the glue that keeps this team flowing. She has the adept ability to create her own shot and is enough of a threat from long-range that you have to defend her jump shot. Her production has slowed down the previous three games but she recently scored 23 versus Shawnee and back-to-back 16 point performances against Assumption and Valley. Holy Cross scoring breakdown for the past 11 games: Kaufman - 13.0 ppg 54-108 (50%) 2-10 3pt. (20%) Scroggins - 11.8 ppg 52-121 (42.9%) 7-29 3pt. (24%) Vasquez - 5.9 ppg 22-57 (38.6%) 18-40 3pt. (45%) Gupton - 5.2 ppg 20-59 (33.9%) 7-18 3pt. (33.3%) Hickey - 4.18 ppg 16-36 (44.4%) 0-1 3pt. (0.0%) Murphy - 2.09 ppg 9-33 (27.2%) 1-4 3pt. (25%) McKinney - 1.73 ppg 6-39 (15.4%) 1-10 3pt. (10%) Wiegandt - 3.27 ppg 16-38 (42.1 %) 1-3 3pt. (33.3%) Brothers - 1.36 ppg 7-23 (30.4%) 0-2 3pt (0.0%) The actual averages for the season are as follows: Scroggins - 10.8 ppg Kaufman - 9.6 ppg Gupton - 6.3 ppg Hickey - 4.7 ppg Vasquez - 5.0 ppg Wiegandt - 3.2 ppg Murphy - 2.4 ppg Brothers - 1.4 ppg McKinney - 1.4 ppg