Covenant’s girls basketball team knows the approach it wants to take and with the Eagles’ personnel it makes sense. They’ve got a fleet of scrappy, hard-nosed guards so they’re going to crank up the pressure on defense, trap and create some chaos.
“Our press is our bread and butter and it really fuels our offense,” Covenant coach Caroline Wilke said. “They just anticipate so well and they pick passes off — it’s kind of our identity and (tonight) they crushed it.”
It certainly worked Tuesday night in the first round of the VISAA tournament as the No. 6-seeded Eagles rolled 56-24 past Isle of Wight. The Eagles’ press forced turnover after turnover by the Chargers as Covenant piled up 24 steals as a team, with seven different players contributing to that total.
“(Coach) Wilke told us to come out hard and press and they fought really hard but we came out with the dub,” said Covenant’s Makalya Hargrove.
Covenant jumped out 9-0 against Isle of Wight and led 19-4 at the end of the first quarter and 38-8 at the break. They simply suffocated the Chargers in that first half with that trapping press. Delaney Poindexter was a big reason why, with a team-high six steals to go with her 15 points, four assists and six boards.
“Delaney is that leader that every coach dreams of, she is where she needs to be on defense almost 100 percent of the time,” Wilke said. “Then on offense, she leads our team in assists and she isn’t afraid to take that stepback jumper. She has that natural court sense that every coach dreams of so I’ve loved watching her develop that.”
Poindexter and the rest of the Eagles’ first line of defense like Hargrove, Kerrigan Poindexter CeCe Corby and Lina Tiouririne were so active in the passing lanes that there just weren’t many good options for Isle of Wight to move the ball up the floor. From the jump the Chargers struggled to even cross half court. Kerrigran Poindexter and Tiouririne had four steals each while Reese Dalton, Katy Varaksa and Hargrove had three each.
Hargrove also had 12 points including a pair of threes and three boards and influenced countless passes that led to turnovers for her squad.
“She has that great ability to read passes and get to the trap and I think her pressure defense really frustrates the offense,” Wilke said. “It allows that next pass to potentially be a steal. She’s growing as a player and I love coaching her.”
Corby and Tiouririne each chipped in eight points offensively while Varaksa had a team-high seven boards and added three assists. Kerrigan Poindexter also had three assists.
The Eagles advance to the VISAA Division II quarterfinals where they’ll face Nansemond Suffolk Academy on the road Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
