Eagles starting to find their groove

By Kyle Jorrey jorrey@theacorn.com

Pressure and confuse.

Keep the heat on the player with the ball and never let the offense get comfortable.

That’s become the defensive mantra of the Oak Park girls’ basketball team and, so far, it’s proven quite effective.

This week the Eagles added Fillmore to their list of recent victims, crushing the Flashes in two consecutive games by a combined score of 132-25. Winning 66-16 away from home and 66-9 at home this past Tuesday, Oak Park bumped its league record to 7-0 and extended its Tri-Valley League winning streak to 51 games.

"We’ve been playing so well together as a team, everyone is contributing," said senior center Alex Howard, who is averaging 12.2 points a game and 8.4 rebounds. "Every game is a team game. It’s not just one player contributing. It just shows us how deep our talent is on this team."

Despite playing his starters only limited minutes in both games, head coach Bob DaCorsi was still able to get a solid effort out of his group against the overmatched team from Fillmore. The opportunity allowed role players to put in good minutes and gain experience that might prove critical in the postseason.

In both games, every player on the Eagle roster recorded a point in the scorebook.

"We wanted to see what the team would do if it was put in an emergency situation and some of our starters got in foul trouble," DaCorsi said. "We went with a lineup of younger role players and I think the starters really appreciated getting to see them have success."

As of late, the Eagles have been most excited about their defensive effort, having given up only 30.6 points per game in league play. By keeping constant pressure on the ball and frequently switching up defensive looks, the Eagles have left most of their opponents completely frustrated and behind on the scoreboard before they even knew what hit them.

Just ask Fillmore, which had 16 turnovers in the first quarter Tuesday.

"Pressure and confuse is the theme for league and the girls have really bought into it," DaCorsi said. "We’re trying to keep all of our opponents to 30 points or less. We don’t want anyone to get comfortable."

The Eagles’ most recent one-sided win was directly attributable to this philosophy.

"We don’t take any team lightly, so we come out every night looking to play hard defense," said senior power forward Emily Medders. "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. We know that, and that’s why we are working so hard to improve defensively."

Medders leads the team with 10.9 rebounds per game and is second in scoring (12.6) to sharp-shooting point guard Amanda Ruland (17.2).

Including a game tonight on the road against St. Bonaventure, the Eagles need just four more wins to conclude another undefeated season in the Tri-Valley League. Expect the Bonnies to be Oak Park’s toughest competition, though the Eagles won both prior meetings this season.

"I expect them to come out and play aggressive and try to get Emily and Alex in foul trouble early," the coach said. "We need to play smart and we need to keep up the effort on the defensive end."

Based on their performance lately, Medders expects the Eagles’ momentum will carry them through the rest of league and into the playoffs—where the Oak Park girls really hope to shine.

"Most teams are thinking ‘OK, our season is almost over,’ but for us, our season is just beginning. We’re just getting started," said Medders, a 6-2 senior. "We are finally starting to put everything together and play how we wanted. Teams better be ready because we’re really starting to get in a grove and play our game. We’re so excited to get to the playoffs."

Though her team’s sights are clearly set beyond another TVL league title, Howard said the group remains hard at work, trying to take something from each and every victory, no-matter how lopsided.

"Every single game there’s something to learn," Howard said. "There’s not one game where people don’t make mistakes, and you’re always learning from those mistakes no matter how big or small. Things are definitely starting to go according to plan, but we just want to keep getting better."