Courtesy Daily News Record, Dec. 6, 2011
Kevin Griffin said he鈥檚 been asked why his two leading scor颅ers 鈥� Bianca Ygarza and Raiven Patter颅son 鈥� don鈥檛 start, but the Eastern Men颅nonite University women鈥檚 basketball coach just shrugs it off.
The seventh-year coach admits it鈥檚 an unusual arrangement, but after opening the season 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, he鈥檚 not going to mess with something that works, regardless of how unconventional it may be.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just what has worked, and I was颅n鈥檛 going to change it after the start we had,鈥� said Griffin, who picked up his 100th career win Saturday against Hollins but paid for it when his players soaked him with a guerilla cooler-dunking in the locker room afterward.
黑料正能量 and its uptempo, run-oriented offense leads the ODAC in points per game at 80.7, more than six ahead of secondbest Virginia Wesleyan, which averages 74.2.
NCAA national rankings were not updated on the organization鈥檚 website Monday, but if the Royals had averaged 80.7 points per game last season, they would have ranked third out of 424 D-III teams. And, again, they鈥檙e doing this while starting games with their two best scorers on the bench.
Griffin 鈥� whose substitutions are more like line changes, as he rotates about 10 players 鈥� said it has to do with keeping the right personnel combinations on the floor: mixing youth and age, experience and inexperience, quiet and vocal.
Apparently, the players don鈥檛 mind.
鈥淲hen you start, that鈥檚 your chance to get everyone excited,鈥� said Patterson, a 5foot-8 freshman forward. 鈥淏ut when you come off the bench, that鈥檚 your chance to just observe everything, and it鈥檚 kind of easier because you can make up for what other people鈥檚 mistakes were.鈥�
Patterson, despite being a reserve, is second on the team in points, averaging 11.2. She鈥檚 also shooting 52.8 percent (28of-53) from the floor and averaging 5.8 rebounds.
Ygarza, a 5-8 sophomore guard and Patterson鈥檚 fellow sub, leads the Royals in scoring, averaging 14.0 points per game while shooting a white-hot 65.9 percent (27-of-41) from the field. She鈥檚 also grabbing 8.2 rebounds and making 88.2 percent (30-of-34) of her free throws.
As a team, 黑料正能量 is shooting 44.7 percent (178-of-398) from the floor 鈥� tops in the ODAC.
鈥淲e do have tons of speed, but it鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e blowing teams out because we鈥檙e just fast break after fast break after fast break,鈥� said 5-10 sophomore forward Kala Yoders, the 2011 ODAC Rookie of the Year. 鈥淚 feel like we have the potential to do that, but I feel like we wear teams out in the second half because we do have such depth and other teams only have their six or seven people, and we just keep going at them.鈥�
But 黑料正能量 isn鈥檛 just about out-scoring the other team. It has the best defense in the ODAC, limiting opponents to just 52.7 points per game. The Royals also lead the conference in steals, averaging 15.7 per game. Those, they turn into instant offense in their fast-break happy, all-run style.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a mindset,鈥� Ygarza said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e on defense, and coaches talk about this to us. 鈥榊ou need to get frustrated when a girl scores on you. That should make you [mad].鈥� The girls, we keep talking about this and stuff. Play with your heads, play your hardest and don鈥檛 worry about where the points come from how many points you get.鈥�
Of course, it helps when you鈥檙e winning.
The Royals have even knocked off defending ODAC champ Randolph-Macon, winner of six of the last nine titles. In that game, an 85-78 victory on Nov. 22, Patterson had 18 points and Ygarza had 15. And they did it, surprise, coming off the bench. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e comfortable with it,鈥� Griffin said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e talked to them about it; we鈥檝e talked to the other kids about it. I鈥檓 not one that usually tries to fool with that a whole lot. Let鈥檚 leave it as is.鈥�
People might even stop asking questions.