Co-Captain Kennedy Herndon ’23 shifts towards the offensive half.
After falling by 29 points to Dexter Southfield, Andover Girls Basketball rebounded from its loss by employing new offensive strategies, ultimately defeating Pingree 53-34 and BB&N 59-52. The team’s record now stands at 10-9.
According to Co-Captain Hope Nardone ’23, the key against BB&N was playing quicker and getting to the basket as efficiently as possible. She recognized that when the team was able to do so, plays would go their way.
Nardone said, “Today we scored well in transition, which is something we have been working on, so it’s nice that it paid off. Ava had a really good transition basket, Sophie had some good transition points, and we did a really good job of pushing the ball, which was good.”
Nardone also noted that the team needed to change its offensive game plan to counter BB&N’s unique defense. In the end, this adaptation proved effective despite the team’s inexperience with the formation.
Nardone said, “We were working on rebounding, and also our zone offense, which I think worked kind of well today. It is definitely not something we are used to, so it was great to get some practice with it before today, because BB&N plays a 2-3 zone.”
Valerie Ha ’24 highlighted Co-Captain Kennedy Herndon ’23 for her effective communication and ability to make micro-adjustments in the team’s strategy throughout the games.
Ha said, “Kennedy played really well these past few games. She is [one of] our [co-captains], and she makes good plays and can read the court really well. At halftime, she tells us some of the stuff we should work on, and on the court, she communicates really well and tells us how we should switch up our defense or offense to match the other team.”
BB&N’s zone defense initially proved to be a challenge for the team, as Andover had not faced a comparable defense all season. According to Ha, the team was able to regroup and come back stronger in the second half of the game.
Ha said, “For this particular game we started off a little flat because we weren’t used to playing a zone defense. After the first half, we started getting better passes and having less turnovers, and we got into the rhythm of the game.”
Brooke Hannan ’23 shared a similar sentiment to Ha regarding the difficulties of strategical adjustment. However, she noted the eventual success the team found.
Hannan said, “BB&N was running a zone defense, so it was a little hard to adjust because most teams don’t run a zone defense. Midway through the first half we adjusted, but it was certainly a challenge.”
According to Nardone, the Southfield crowd proved to be an additional challenge on top of the team’s skilled roster. Despite the low attendance at home against BB&N, the team was able to improve upon its shortcomings against Southfield and secure the win.
Nardone said, “Today it was great to have SLAM there, as always, but it was a little quiet because most other teams had games, so we didn’t have many spectators. Dexter was a Friday night game at Dexter so they had a lot of spectators. They have a really talented team, so that was a tough loss. That game really forced us to focus on what we had to grow on.”
Andover will seek to continue its winning record at the NE8 tournament this weekend.
Editor’s Note: Hope Nardone ’23 is a News Editor for The Phillipian.
