Lady Blues defense pushes team past South Hills

It’s common for fans to see 60 points in a game and assume that it was a dominant offensive performance for the winning team.

While the Graham Lady Blues certainly made the most out of their time with the ball in their hands, it was primarily their active defense that propelled them to a 60-18 win over the South Hills Lady Scorpions.

The Lady Blues kept the home team Lady Scorpions uncomfortable all night as Graham’s fast hands and aggressive defense led to a lot of easy points for the visitors. South Hills struggled to get anything going offensively, as the bulk of their points came from one player who made a few circus shots to put her team on the board.

As a team, Graham (2-1) recorded 25 steals which turned into fastbreak layups and wide open shots all night. Guards Rebecca McGregor and Katie McGehee led the charge with seven steals each followed by fellow guard Mayci Ryans with five.

Hustle has been a big part of what head coach Baylee Thompson has preached to her team, and she felt they excelled in that regard Tuesday night.

“We were hustling more on defense today, staying in the straight man (defense), starting to rotate a little bit better,” Thompson said. “They’re starting to understand playing with each other a little bit more.”

Graham’s defense suffocated South Hills throughout the game, but particularly in the first quarter. The Lady Blues opened the game on a 17-0 run, and it wasn’t until the final minute of the first period that the Lady Scorpions got on the board thanks to a free throw.

While transition offense due to their stingy defense played a large role in scoring, the Lady Blues were able to get more real-time work on their set offensive plays, something that also stood out to the head coach.

“With the set plays, we’ve got some kinks to work out. But offensively, a lot of it came out of the transition and then working through our actual offense,” Thompson said.

In the second quarter, the Lady Blues more than doubled their offensive output beginning with Addyson Weaver, who scored three of the first four points on free throws.

Graham continued to succeed in the transition offense, and when the girls weren’t getting open looks at the basket they were often fouled and earned their points at the free throw line.

McGregor had a four-point swing followed by two points from Ava Street. Newcomer from the volleyball team McGehee drained a 3-pointer late in the quarter, and at halftime the Lady Blues led 35-8.

The second half looked similar to the first as the Lady Blues continued to push South Hills on defense and made things happen on offense. Graham also did a good job sharing the ball in this game, recording 13 assists led by Fayth Bryer and McGregor with three each.

At the end of the third quarter, Graham led 48-14 and that trend continued until the final buzzer sounded at the end of the fourth. The Lady Blues were ahead by so many points they spent a lot of time in the final minutes passing the ball to run out the clock, something they hadn’t practiced or gotten to do much of yet.

“We haven’t practiced that before, and I said, ‘Well, here’s a good time to practice.’ So they embraced it and worked hard and tried to take care of it,” Thompson said.

Ryans finished the game as Graham’s leading scorer with 14 points, followed by McGregor with 13 points and Briley Randall and McGehee with 9 points apiece. Every player who saw time on the court recorded at least a point, which is a welcome sight for any coach, knowing the contributions can come from all around.

Weaver had an incredible game down in the post as she pulled in 14 rebounds to lead the team, with teammate Bryer the second highest with six.

Graham’s next contest will be the home opener at approximately 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19 against Stamford.