Pisgah basketball flashes elite defense in 2nd-round NCHSAA playoff victory over West Henderson
No. 5-seed Pisgah guard Dot Mills stared down a West Henderson double-team near the paint after receiving a pass from center Maddie Rhea with her team up 11 and four minutes left in the half. Mills scanned the floor for an open teammate.
She found guard Whitney Boone standing wide open at the top of the arc. The Falcons' defense didn’t rotate properly. Mills hurled a pass to Boone. She caught the ball and rose up for the triple.
Boone banked it in and the Bears' (23-4, 12-0) home crowd erupted as their team took a commanding 14-point lead it never surrendered on the way to a 67-46 victory over No. 12-seed West Henderson (23-7, 9-3) at home in the second round of the 3A NCHSAA girls basketball state playoffs Thursday.
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“Tonight, this is do or die, and our seniors stepped up and showed great leadership,” coach Brandon Holloway said. “Our whole team stepped up and did an outstanding job. Not getting caught up in who we were playing but settling in and playing our game.”
Pisgah exploded to an insurmountable lead in the second and third quarters because of its defense. The Bears allowed only five and eight points in those periods, outsourcing the Falcons 39-13.
“I thought the girls were dialed in defensively, did a good job of contesting their shots, getting on the boards, making it tough for West to get points,” Holloway said. “Because they are a talented offensive group with deadly shooters.”
The feat is even more impressive when considering West Henderson and Pisgah are well acquainted with each other as Mountain 7 foes. They have played three times this season with the Bears coming out victorious each time.
It meant the Falcons were expecting Pisgah to press and play a 2-3 zone. Holloway responded by featuring those defenses sparingly. The Bears mainly played man-to-man and a 1-3-1 zone.
The 1-3-1 zone was a defense Holloway hasn’t shown opponents before. He said it was something the Bears have worked on over the last month. He said the scheme worked vs. West Henderson because the team communicated well.
Holloway said Pisgah is able to have several defenses to use because of how experienced his team is.
“So having this veteran group allows you to add more stuff to their plate and know they can handle it,” Holloway said. “Normally we go with one maybe two defenses as the year progresses.”
The Bears will travel to Greensboro on Tuesday to play No. 4-seed Ben Smith in the third round.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Pisgah flashes elite defense in win over West Henderson
