Not The End Of The World

The Lady Gryphons were able to plant the first loss of the season on Grover Battle's Lady Knights last night.  There is a burden all teams carry when the word undefeated is associated with you.  If the season is over and you were able to with stand everyone who tried to knock you down it is a great accomplishment.

Northern did not play badly and lose but but got caught by a team that played the best they had played in quite a while since the injury bug had struck them.   Northern has lost five games in two years.  Nobody has been able to beat them that didn't have Rocky Mount on their chest.

Thursday Fike tried slowing the ball down and held on to it as much as possible. Fike's best players gave Northern Fits  but Northern had too many good players.  Rocky Mount played cat and Mice with the Knights.  Played zone most of the time but every now and then used pressure to keep the Knight off balance.  Rocky Mount forced Northern to Beat them from the outside.

The good news for the Lady Knights is from here on out nobody will have played them three times like Fike and four times like the Gryphons.  Every coach goes to the drawing board after they have lost to any team and they say "next time let's try this".  Northern should have all home games the first couple of rounds and their chances of making the regional is very good.

Yes the weakness of the Lady Knights is their three point shooting.  They make a few but with the size Northern throws at you down low any team would rather you prove to me you can shoot  an outside shot over drubbing me to death inside.

Grover Battle has primed this team as most of these players played varsity as freshmen and any in losing these girls showed  they had grit  that would pay off  later.  Later turned out to be the next three years as two years ago the Lady Knights made it to the regional to lose to the State Champion and last year in the sectional final.

Six of Northern's top seven players are seniors. They start with six foot Jordan Oldham who provides the size to scare anybody.  From the bench they bring in Camille Branch  who at 5 feet eight inches plays as if she is six feet tall. Deja Lewis at 5' 10" plays like a power forward.   Quaneshia Lynch at 5' 6", Shakiya Mercer 5'5" and Khadijrah Richardson 5'4" provide the play making to this team.  They don't look like guards but they get the job done.  All three can shoot from the outside.  Northern's most versatile player is Alexus Hill the junior in the bunch  She at 5'7" can play every position if needed and do it well.  There are more who play their roles for this team but  the seven are the nucleus of this once beaten team.

A new season begins in about ten days.  The burden if it was of being undefeated is off their shoulders.  For the six seniors this is their last ride.  They have been close twice before and now as older players they have three years of experience to rely on.  One loss is not the end of the world.  It may be a blessing in disguise