Back in mid-January, during one of St. Anne’s-Belfield’s girls basketball team’s three regular seasonmeetings with Liberty Christian Academy, the Saints employed a delay game after building a lead that led to some turnovers. Eventually, LCA clawed back into the game and won by a single point.
Running the delay wasn’t about that win though. STAB was playing the long game.
Friday, that long game worked in the Saints’ favor as STAB ran a modified version of the delay late to close out Liberty Christian 41-33 in the VISAA Division 2 semifinals.
“I changed it — it was a different type of delay,” said STAB coach Phil Stinnie. “We did a three-man front delay last time and it took them out of attack mode. I changed it up and we had a four-man front and it gives you a lane. The lane person attacked even in the delay and that gave us good looks.”
The delay allowed the Saints to hold on to that lead, but it was STAB’s defense that got them to that point. The Saints created turnover after turnover as LCA struggled to come up with an answer for STAB’s defensive depth. Those turnovers quickly became fastbreak buckets, crucial opportunities against the Bulldogs who try and limit possessions and play a methodical brand of offense.
“This is what we wanted from the beginning of the season,” said STAB senior N.K. Ilang. “Our defense really helped us and that was our main priority — play defense and the offense will come.”
Ilang ended the game with 11 points, tying for the team high with Mailynn Steppe, who played a big role defensive in the early stages of the game. Steppe’s aggressiveness in the passing lanes helped STAB build a five-point advantage before halftime.
It was an impressive performance for the Saints against a team that knows them extremely well after four total meetings.
“(I told the team) they know your stuff just as well as you do, and we handled it,” Stinnie said. “They’re a well-coached team and they get you to play their style and we were lucky enough that we could handle their style and come out on top.”
The Saints now take on Paul VI, a squad ranked No. 3 in the Washington, D.C. area on AllMetSports.com.
“They’re a juggernaut,” Stinnie said. “They’ve got every piece and you pretty much have to play a perfect game to beat them. Like I told our girls, nobody is expecting you to win, so this is one game you can actually go out, have fun, relax and see what happens.”
