After seeing some of the highlights
of the past week’s NBA All-Star Game it was evident that defense wasn’t a high
priority. In the game, the East squad defeated the West 163-155. Yes those
scores are accurate. Following the high-flying game the head coach of the West
was asked if during the game he asked his team to play defense. His response,
“No.” Although it was an exhibition for the fans and the game doesn’t count
against anyone’s record, it’s still amazing how defense is considered so
valuable.
One of the
oldest sayings in sports is “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins
championships.” For the most part, this holds true. Look at the Seattle
Seahawks who just won the Super Bowl last month. They entered the game with the
number one ranked defense in all of the NFL.
With this in mind, we can now shift
our focus to the top ranked defense in the women’s portion of the Great
Northwest Athletic Conference. The Saint Martin’s University women are currently ranked number one in the
conference in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. What this
means is that the Saints are allowing the least amount of points per game to
their opponents, while also not allowing anything easy for the opposing
offense. After interviewing multiple players, one principle seemed to be the
foundation of the team’s stifling “D.” Communication. One would think that
getting players to talk would be an easy thing to do, but most coaches would
tell you that isn’t true. “Communication is key for us because if we don’t
talk, no one knows where to go,” stated sophomore Megan Wiedeman who is coming
off her first career double-double last weekend. Even with great communication
there must be a certain level of trust between the players. Knowing that it’s
just not one main person to turn to and we can go to anyone makes us worker
harder on defense. Anyone can have a good defensive game and everyone tries to
contribute on defense,” added senior Chelsea Haskey who is the team’s leading
rebounder, averaging seven boards per game.
But, defense
of this caliber doesn’t just come out of nowhere. It must be developed and
stressed over the course of a season. “We’re a disciplined team and we know
what we need to do. We practice a lot of defense at practice so it has become
easier to us,” noted Wiedeman. “By having such great team defense, we are able
to rotate a number of different players in (to the game) which gives the
opponents a different guarding style,” said sophomore Ciara Pedroni.
After being
preseason selected to finish eighth by other GNAC coaches, the Saints are
currently tied for fifth with four games remaining in the regular season. “I
think we’ve always been kind of an underestimated team and this just shows that
we are better than other coaches think. If other people think that we aren’t
going to come out and play hard that’s fine, we’ll prove them wrong,” said
Haskey. “We can do anything we set our minds to and our goal was to go to the
GNAC tournament and we are on our way to that,” claims Wiedeman.
This week the Saints are home for two
games before hitting the road, in what could prove to be the most important
stretch of the season. “We need to look at what we did before on film and try
to fix our mistakes. Even if we played really well that game, we need to look
at the little things and see if we can fix that. We’ll look to get our defense
perfect because that’s our strong point,” said Haskey. “If we come out, play
hard, and stick together as a team, good things come out of it,” added Pedroni.
The recipe that head coach Tim Healy
has created has without a doubt worked so far. Stressing the importance of a
team-first mentality, along with a hardnosed defensive has put the Saints in a
position they haven’t been in since the GNAC tournament scaled back its
tournament teams a few years ago. With two of their final games against the
team they are tied with and the team they are ahead of, the Saints will look to
use the old phrase that has seemed to last the test of time. “Offense puts
people in the stands, but defense wins championships.” 
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