Michael Pineda
If Thursday’s scrimmage is any indication, the Duncan Lady Demon basketball team is ready for the regular season.
Sparked by a suffocating defense and aggressive play on both ends of the court, the Lady Demons had little problem against Class 3A Pauls Valley and Class 5A El Reno.
The Lady Indians are ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll, but were not at full strength because of the flu and struggled to match up with Duncan. The telling sign came in a quarter against the second team which the Lady Demons won 19-1.
“We pretty much ran them to death,” Duncan coach Andrew McClung said. “Up to this point, nobody has been able to run with us. Once we get up and going, it’s kind of our game.”
Duncan started out slow in the scrimmage but finished each quarter with a flurry of points as its full-court pressure wore down El Reno and Pauls Valley. The Lady Demons were able to dictate the pace of the action and outworked both teams with their hustle.
The full court press proved to be extremely effective as Duncan was able to score points in transition. The Lady Demons were also able to score points from the perimeter as Rachelle Carr and Hannah Allen knocked down shots from the outside. Senior Holly Stewart also had a strong game scoring from both inside and outside. Also having a strong scrimmage was D’Shala Culberson and Dani Jo St. Clair.
“Rachelle (Carr) has been out go-to girl in the past but the thing is, I couldn’t tell you who led in scoring from one quarter to the next,” McClung said. “That is what we want. I don’t care if she scores 25 in a game, there just better be three or four scoring 10 points.”
One area that McClung would like to see improvement is the half-court game, which will be key when the Lady Demons run across a team with solid guard play. One thing that has been helping the team are weekly scrimmages against the freshman boys’ team.
“I think we are getting there,” McClung said. “We are playing better and better. We have been scrimmaging against our freshman boys every Wednesday and they are by far the best scrimmage we see every week.”
The Lady Demons will be on the road Monday to take on Southmoore and will be at home Tuesday night for the Red & White scrimmage.
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