Grafton’s trapping defense proved too much on Tuesday, as they extended their 35-21 halftime lead for a 58-40 victory over the Poquoson Islanders.
The Clippers (7-1) had 13 steals in the game — four of them from senior Hannah Olson, who had a double-double on the evening with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Establishing a frantic pace early was important to Grafton.
“That’s what we try to do, we try to dictate the pace that we want to play and we do that with our trapping,” Grafton coach Tommy Bayse said.
The Islanders (6-2) were looking to slow it down, packing their 2-3 zone into the three-point line for the better part of the game. This defense gave the Clippers trouble early on, as the first quarter ended in a virtual deadlock at 15-14.
Clipper Haley Marshall took the game into her hands in the second, generating seven points in the first 2:25 and 10 total in the period off of four baskets. Each of those four hoops was assisted by a different teammate, as Grafton displayed the kind of ball movement and teamwork that Bayse says has been lacking of late.
“We’ve been struggling against some zone this year, so they did a good job by packing it in,” Bayse said. “Sometimes, on a zone, you come down and they get you to just take one pass and then a shot, and then they don’t have to work. If you move the basketball, step inside the three-point line or attack that zone, you get better shots, or draw somebody and dish it inside.”
After taking 23 attempts from 3-point land in the first half, the Clippers attempted seven in the second, following their coach’s advice. The Clippers paired this offensive efficiency with the same fire on defense, as Poquoson could find no answer to Grafton’s 1-2-2 trap. The Islanders got no closer than 12 points in the second half.
Grafton received balanced scoring efforts on the night, getting 20 from Marshall, 14 from Emily Beyer and 10 from Olson. That balanced helped make up for the struggles of inside-outside threat Olivia Wilson, who finished with just eight points on 3-13 shooting from the floor, and will be key moving forward as the Clippers hope to maintain pace with Lafayette — the district’s only other one-loss team.
“We’ve been playing not as well as we can so this was a big win because it was against a good team,” Bayse said. “Lafayette is playing really good so we’ve got to keep pace with them.”
