Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

A spot in the Critelli Cup final on the line. The two seed hosts the three seed when the Ottawa Gee-Gees take on the Windsor Lancers in Ottawa. Let’s look at what the defensive keys are for both sides to come out victorious.

The Ottawa Gee-Gees finished 19-3 with their only losses by the hands of the Carleton Ravens and Brock Badgers. They are the two seed with a multi-faceted offence and an opportunistic defence that dissects weaknesses of opponents. The head of the spear for the Gee-Gees is their point guard Natsuki Szczokin and she is going to be the focal point for the Gee-Gees defence going up against the strong guards of the Windsor Lancers.

My eyes go right to the matchup with Natsuki and the pair of Windsor ball handlers Mya Iriah and Julia Chiarot. Whether it’s Mya or Julia, the focus of the Gee-Gees defence has to be denying the middle of the floor. Work through screens to deny quick drives and focus everything towards the wings where the Gee-Gees length can take perimeter shots away.

As we saw in the first matchup between the Gee-Gees and Lancers, and in the Lancers first playoff game against the Guelph gryphons, Windsor wants to work switches to create mismatches for their quick guards. Ottawa has to focus their screen defence to keep the ball on the perimeter or out towards the sides of the paint to prevent a good opportunity at a layup or floater.

If the Lancers can’t create the space they want off screens, they use dribble handoffs to get switches and create openings to the rim. Ottawa with the players they have outside of the paint has the ability to switch in those situations and still be ok defensively as long as they deny inside.

The Gee-Gees have the length to keep the Lancers in front, if they can keep the Lancers out of the middle of the floor, the quick hands of Natsuki and Alissa Provo can create turnovers and get the high powered Ottawa offence running the other way.

If we flip to the other side of the guard matchup, being able to contain Natsuki Szczokin has proven to be a lot easier said than done this year. She has the quick step to create her own shot on a step back three or a mid range pull up, and she has the ability to get off difficult passes in traffic to shooters on the perimeter. Where it starts for the Lancers in slowing down the impact of Natsuki, is pressuring as soon as Natsuki gets into the half court and the others on the floor keeping eyes on where she is with the ball with a focus on not over-rotating in help.

Mya and the other Windsor guards have to stay on Natsuki’s hip at all times in the half court and give her as little space as possible. Take the ball out of her hands and allow the matchup you have inside the paint to give you the freedom on the perimeter to try and disrupt what the Gee-Gees do and create turnovers.

If you’re the Lancers you have to stay in your spots defensively and trust that you have the rim protection to only have to really worry about movement around the outside and keeping the guards from getting what they want inside. Keep a body on Natsuki at all times in the half court and if she gets inside the paint watch for the kick out to Allie in the corner. The defensive success starts with giving the ball handler as little space as possible, and ends with defending the second action whether thats a Allie McCarthy three, a Emily Payne post up or a Alissa Provo drive.

These two teams haven’t met since the season opener when the Gee-Gees took it 77-54.