- April 24, 2024
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The Seabreeze girls basketball team lost its leading scorer to an injury and will look to other players, and its defense, to step up.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
Health, and as a result luck, can play a big role in a season's success.
The night before the Seabreeze girls basketball team played on the road at Mainland, the team’s leading scorer, Tatiann McCoy, suffered a knee injury in a 57-50 win at New Smyrna Beach.
Head coach James Johnson said McCoy could be out four to six weeks. During that stretch, he’ll need added scoring from players like Zhamaria Bell, Ashley Loyd and Aliea Russell. And that's exactly what he got Saturday, Dec. 1, against Mainland.
“I put Ashley Loyd on the block (in the second half) and she had a heck of a game,” Johnson said. “She’s a freshman, and has had minimum games beforehand.”
The Sandcrabs’ particular playing style will make it easier to handle losing McCoy. The team's high-pressure defense and transition offense is less reliant on a few players in a half-court offense. It instead gets many players involved, wearing down opponents.
Against Mainland, Seabreeze trailed 26-19 with four minutes left in the third quarter before scoring a couple quick baskets and cutting the deficit to two points. The team started the fourth quarter tied.
“I think the turning point was the defense,” Johnson said. “(Chakera Fields) really stepped up. She denied the ball hard and had a couple steals. We kept the (pressure) up and get some easy layups.”
Johnson said after a 6-0 run, his team never looked back. The Sandcrabs won 54-39 on the backs of big fourth quarters from Loyd and Russell, which will need to be become business as usual over the course of the next few weeks.
