Lady’Dogs Look For Better Start

FAYETTEVILLE WANTS ANOTHER TITLE

— The Fayetteville girls basketball team has played in two tournaments this month, and both times they left with first-place trophies.

Lady Bulldogs coach Bobby Smith wouldn’t mind adding another piece of hardware to his growing collection before the new year.

To do so, though, his players must avoid getting off to slow starts in games, a trend that has lately bothered Smith. They also must face a crowded field — which includes some of Texas’ top basketball powers — at this week’s Sandra Meadows Classic in Duncanville, Texas.

“We’re very impatient to start games lately. It just looks like chaos out there,” Smith said after watching the Lady Bulldogs score eight points in the first quarter of a 53-29 win over Mount Saint Mary Academy on Dec. 18.

“There’s no execution to our play. There certainly wasn’t any rhythm or flow for the entire game.”

With no games to play since then, Smith has had time to iron out the miscues that have prevented his fast-paced offense from getting into an early rhythm.

And Fayetteville hopes to get off to a better start at 3 p.m. today when it faces Allen, Texas, in the opening round of the three-day tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs have remained undefeated despite their recent struggles early on, and they have a chance to win their third tournament in December.

Fayetteville won three games in three days to win the Lady Bulldog Invitational on Dec. 5, and Smith’s veteran squad followed that up a week later with a first-place finish at the Durant (Okla.) Invitational.

Still, Smith — who’s a stickler for detail — has been disturbed by his team’s slow starts.

Fayetteville guard Calli Berna said recently that the team simply needs to work on beginning games better and using its pressure defense to create offense. She added that getting more ball movement might help.

“We’re pumped. We’re ready,” Berna said. “I just think we need to take our defense (to a) fast pace and be ready on offense to slow it down (and) working our offense around.”

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