Stamford’s defense stymies Westhill
STAMFORD — Offense is in the hands of the individual. A basketball player can roll out of bed and drain 3-pointers.
Defense is a never-perfected skill. It is a talent that is developed and nuanced over time.
You need an entire unit of five players working together to create successful defense. Defense has been the critical component this 2018-19 season for the Stamford High School girls basketball team.
The Black Knights held intracity rival Westhill High to one point in the first quarter and six points in the first half on their way to a 49-17 win in the first annual Martin Luther King Classic between the schools Saturday at SHS’ Paul Kuczo gym.
Stamford High was awarded an MLK Classic trophy by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Stamford Chapter president Jack Bryant following the victory.
The Black Knights were paying homage for just how far their team defense has come so far this season.
For Stamford — and its rotation of one senior, four juniors, one sophomore and four freshmen — Saturday marked its fifth triumph in six games in 2019.
In that stretch, SHS (7-5 overall, 5-4 FCIAC) has held opponents to 32 points or less in four of the wins. Stamford beat Darien, 52-48 in overtime.
That’s good defense. Aggressive, pressure defense that creates turnovers and limits baskets in the lane.
“The coaching staff has preached from opening day of practice that defense win games. In the win over Darien, we rallied behind our defense,” said Stamford’s veteran coach Diane Burns. “We started the year with so many new players. Getting people on the same page was the goal because we mix up defenses so much. We were locked in today. The last few weeks have been a huge improvement. But I’d say we’re at 75 percent of where we ultimately want to be.”
The growth of freshmen Charlie Karukas, Madison Lockery, Leonora Lipson and Breanna Jacobs have been exciting to watch.
The development of sophomore Emily Graham, junior Dina Merone and lone senior Claudia Moses on the forward line has been crucial as well.
The jump to high school varsity girls basketball has been eye-opening for former YoungTimers standouts Karukas, Lockery, Lipson and Jacobs.
“At Youngtimers we learned the basics of defense,” Lockery said. “To go to high school varsity defense, it’s like going from regular math to calculus. It’s a lot of hard work. You have to develop a lot of confidence in what you do. You have to compete at practice every day.
“If you’re on the bench watching the game, you have to know the defense. A made basket means one thing. A miss means something else,” Lockery continued. “The first week of practice our heads were exploding. Every word out of the coaches’ mouths are important. You have to know every detail or you’re just confused. Whatever we mess up in practice, we can look at it on film. We can work on it the next day. That’s improvement on details.”
It was trial by fire for the freshmen when Stamford’s leading scorer Megan Landsiedel went out injured and missed 41⁄2 games (four losses, one win) before returning on Jan. 2 against NFA.
“It was hard without Megan,” Lockery said. “But we were forced to be more confident in ourselves. The pressure was on us to produce. That experience continues to benefit us on the court.”