... and I don't mean the car builder.
This is Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Mich., just outside Detroit. Bob Belf, a longtime proponent of "The System" and the administrator of the Yahoo! message board devoted to it, coaches the women's team there and he was kind enough to e-mail some details on the season. Here it is:
Coach Belf: "We have played four times since our last update. Due to snow we had a game postponed from Wednesday the 10th to the 11th. A weekday game on the road costs us two players (note from Keith: I'm guessing this is due to class schedule) and we faced the complacency of beating a team by 40 the first time. We took a 10-point halftime lead only to go stone cold in the second half. Panic set in and we lost a winnable game 94-80.
"We then headed north for our next contest that comes with a three and a half hour ride, but this time we took the full squad of nine. Once again, we shot the ball poorly but 'The System' took total effect in this contest. We got down 20-6 only to come back for a three-point halftime lead. We stretched it out in the second half, getting it to 90-60 and winning the game 91-67. We fired up 122 shots and went 14-for-70 from the arc. We simply overwhelmed them with shots and pressure as we caused 42 miscues. Nice win due to effort on the road.
"(Last) week we had the mid-week road contest minus two players at the No. 5 team in the country. This was a 'pink zone' game for breast cancer awareness and we had a great time being involved but the result was expected as they ran us all over the floor, winning 109-58. We made 14 triples in the game but due to their size, we were 2-for-34 inside the arc.
"(Saturday), we faced the third-place team in the league and our final home game of the year. We had energy to spare and came out firing. In the middle of the first quarter of the game we got great pace of game and they fell into the pace and we lead at the half 41-30. The second hlaf was a little odd as they worked very hard to slow us down with a three-quarter, 2-2-1 press, but the loss of pace made it harder for them to get back in the game. We attacked the pressure a little more deliberately and willingly took shots around the basket. We kept the lead around 10 the entire game and scored 44 in the second half. We win 87-76 with a big win, which is our first against a team with a better record than us in our league.
"Many positive things happened for us this year. We are now in the top 10 in the nation in scoring at 78.7 points a game. My best shooter finished first in the nation in 3s made with 90. My point guard is ranked No. 5 in the country in assists and we had fired in 305 triples while shooting over 1,200 attempts.
"Amazing to me what nine kids were able to do."
Absolutely, Coach Belf. Thanks for the keeping us informed, and good luck down the road.
Now, to other teams running the most perfect style of play known to the universe: Glenville State College returned home for a fairly easy victory, outrunning Alderson-Broaddus 86-68 Monday night in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
The Pioneers (16-8, 14-6 WVIAC) won their fourth consective game despite shooting only 27 percent from the field. How, you might ask? Well, it helped that they took 104 shots (unreal!), grabbed 41 offensive rebounds (you can't be serious!) and forced 38 turnovers (no way!). Yep, that's "The System" for you.
Donita Adams led the way 16 points and Tiffany Huffman added 12 for Glenville State, which finished 9-for-54 on 3-pointers. Still, the effort was good enough to help the Pioneers stay tied for fourth in the conference with Fairmont State, one game behind Charleston University and West Virginia Wesleyan and a game and a half behind Seton Hill. How good has Seton Hill been lately? The Griffins have won 11 consecutive games to move to the top of the WVIAC with less than a week remaining.
Glenville State hosts winless Salem International on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Good luck to coach Bunky Harkleroad and his team.
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