Defense powering Cardinals’ run
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It's a common adage, but it rings especially true for the Canfield girls basketball team -- defense wins championships.
All year long, the Cardinals have paired their defense with their outside shooting to achieve a 25-1 overall record. But during the playoffs, they've taken their defense to another level, and it's largely the reason Canfield finds itself playing for a Division II regional championship and a trip to Dayton on Friday night.
"I don't know if we have star (individual) defenders, but everybody that plays for us has really bought into how important (defense) is to us," head coach Matt Reel said. "I think we've become a really good defensive team and I think that's our calling card."
During the regular season, Canfield allowed just 34.8 points per game, but through five playoff games, the Cardinals have given up an average of only 21.8 points per game.
"I think we've done a better job focusing," Reel said. "I think they've understood how to play teams and play to some of our athletic limitations. When they're doing that, it's a fun thing to watch and watch them develop. I think we've gotten a little bit tougher too, in terms of not letting teams get second shots on us."
After Canfield avenged its lone loss of the season, knocking off Salem in the district final, Reel called it the Cardinals' best defensive display of the season. Canfield gave up 47 points to the Quakers during the loss on Dec. 21, but then held Salem to 26 points in its win last week.
The Cardinals then followed that up by holding a Marlington team that had averaged 57.6 points per game to just 32 total points. Over the course of the past two games, Canfield held Salem and Marlington to a combined 26.4 percent shooting percentage from the floor.
"We challenged them to try to maintain that same intensity that we had (last week) against Salem, against Marlington, and I thought we did that," Reel said after the win over the Dukes.
Canfield has played both man-to-man defense and zone throughout the season, and has shown a propensity to switch between the two in games. Still though, to play top-level defense, it all starts in practice.
"Coach Reel, every practice he emphasizes defense," senior Abby Muckleroy said. "Without our coach and without him pushing us in practice and pushing us in games, we wouldn't be the defensive team that we are today."
The Cardinals' defensive effectiveness can be traced back to their unique lineup.
Canfield doesn't have a traditional center and doesn't have any undersized guards either. In fact, every player in the team's usual nine-player rotation is between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10.
This allows the Cardinals to put a lineup on the floor at any point in the game where every player is roughly the same size, making it such that Canfield has no defensive mismatches that opposing teams can attack or exploit and allowing the team to switch defenders, should it choose to do so, whenever a team tries to run pick-and-roll sets offensively.
"The length we have really helps us defensively," Reel said. "I think we challenge some shots that maybe people think they have. We do have a unique lineup. Especially offensively, when we almost have five guards out there, it's sometimes a tough cover when a team has a traditional post (player). Whereas on defense, we have a little bit of a tougher time guarding that post. So it's kind of a give-and-take, but our girls play a lot taller than they actually are."
Canfield now set its sights on Canal Fulton Northwest for Friday's regional final. With the Indians averaging 51 points per game, the Cardinals will likely need another elite defensive performance if they hope to find themselves making the trip to Dayton next week.
Tip is at 7 p.m. in Barberton.
nmadhavan@tribtoday.com