They don’t have a single player nationally ranked in either scoring or rebounding, but thanks to a balanced offense and a strong defense, the Sinclair Lady Pride are off to a 12-3 start.
Surprising defense
When asked to describe his coaching philosophy before the season, Lady Pride coach Jeff Dillon described himself as an offensive minded coach. That might sound surprising for a team that allows only 53.3 points a game as of Jan. 11, ranking them 12th in the nation, according to njcaa.org.
“We’ve never not emphasized defense,” Dillon said. “Our half court defense has always been good, but the evolution of our full court defense has been really good.”
Dillon said the Lady Pride have gotten a lot of steals off their press defense that they have turned into baskets for themselves.
“When you can get buckets off your defense, it’s going to do nothing but help you.”
Transition offense
Dillon said scoring has been key to his team’s strong start and that his transition offense has come along better than he thought it would.
“I knew we had some quickness and I knew we wanted to be an up tempo team,” Dillon said. “But this team really does a good job in the open floor.”
The Lady Pride are averaging 74.1 points per game as of Jan. 11, according njcaa.org, and they are doing it without a single player averaging more than 12.4 points per game.
“I love balanced scoring,” Dillon said. “Philosophy wise, offensively, I love to see everyone get a piece of the pie.”
Dillon said his team can go 11 deep and that he doesn’t know if there is a team in the nation that can match the overall depth of the Lady Pride.
Three captains are better than one
Dillon said that because his team gets along so well, they are able take criticism from each other and use it to fix their errors.
“We’ve got three different leaders. We’ve got Jana Gross and Jessica Pierre who are really verbal leaders and we got Chelcie Gullet who really doesn’t say a whole lot, but she’s very intense and she shows her intensity in her play every possession,” Dillon said. “People sitting on the bench when she comes off the floor can’t stand up quick enough to give her five.”
Dillon added, “We are fortunate. We’ve got three really strong captains that are helping us get across to the team things we want to do and the intensity we want to play with.”
Time off
The Lady Pride went 17 days without a game in December. Coach Dillon said the team practiced a little bit during that stretch and worked on their conditioning, but mainly used the time to relax after what was the first quarter of college for the team’s seven freshmen.
“During the holidays, I’ve just really been a believer in giving people time off to be with their families,” Dillon said.
Dillon said his team came back refreshed and ready to go from the break.
“Usually when they come back after a break you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to have?’ But these girls came back and they really didn’t miss a beat,” he said.
Handling success
Dillon said the team has taken the success of their 10-3 start in stride and that they go into every game with the same intensity.
“We got a lot of basketball left to play, but the effort is there every day,” Dillon said. “As long as the effort is there and as long as the attitude is there, we’ll keep going.”