Edina 9th Grade Girls Basketball: Weekly Update #5

Weekly Update

Every week to two weeks, we will post our weekly update that will provide information on what we are working on, the upcoming schedule of events, and where each girl will be playing. Although this is outlined in advance, we appreciate your understanding that circumstances will sometimes require us to be flexible and deviate from our original assignments and schedule.

Current Focus

This week we will continue to work on offensive and defensive schemes. Our defense has continued to improve significantly. Ball pressure is good but denial position is lacking. We are inconsistent at placing ourselves in help position, but more often our help position is forcing our opponent to make the extra pass. We still need to improve “vision” on the ball and our person we are guarding—we are very susceptible to the back door cut. We have been (and will continue to) focus on shooting in practice resulting in a more aggressive offensive approach to scoring. Consequently, we are taking better shots and more are falling. That being said, improving shooting will still be a major focus. We’ve implemented a basic motion offense with many options that are coded as set plays. Ultimately, as we digest the offense, players will be able to run different options without calling set plays. We will continue to work on Minnesota and this will serve as our main offense vs. person-to-person defense. We will teach and implement a 1-3-1 half-court trap (that may be adjusted to a ¾ court trap). This will be used at times in lieu of our full-court press but will not be a staple half-court defense. Again, we will play mostly person-to-person defense.

Each week we focus on developing shooting (including layups), ball handling and passing skills. Players will participate in the free-throw ladder. We always work on transition, emphasizing the fast break and playing until they hear the whistle. We will reinforce boxing out and defensive position. And we will use daily game situations (controlled 5 on 5) to reinforce all skills and schemes taught. We have seen steady improvement thanks to the hard work and coachability of our players.

Current Roster

A Team	Shared 2A-1B	Share 1A-2B	B Team
Sarah E. (G)	Cori (G)	Andrea (G)	Sasha (G)
Paige (G)	Brooke (G)	Kirstin (G)	Haley (F)
Rebecca (G/F)	Kelsey (F)	Emily (G)	Katherine (F)
Karen (F)	Sarah R. (G)	Julia (F)
	Tess (G/F)	Olivia (F)

Injuries

The roster is subject to change at anytime. Practices, games, injuries and illness will affect the distribution of players.

Weekly Schedule

(Subject to Change/Adjustments—Thanks for your understanding)

Date	Event	Time	Location	Notes
1-22	Practice	2:45-4:30	VVMS	Finals Week
1-23	Practice	2:45-4:30	VVMS	Finals Week
1-24	Practice	2:45-4:30	VVMS	Finals Week
1-25	Home Game vs. Armstrong	3:45	SVMS	Green Uniforms
1-28	Practice	8:30-10:00	VVMS	Could have been 6:00!
1-29	Home Game vs. Minnetonka	3:45—A 4:45—B	SVMS	Green Uniforms
1-30	NO PRACTICE			SVMS Winterfest Student-Staff Game
1-31	Home Game vs. Henry Sibley	3:45--A	VVMS	Green Uniforms
2-1	Practice	2:45-4:45	VVMS
2-2	Edina Tourney	TBA	TBA	Brackets Not Yet Released