South Meck vs Hunter Huss

The scrimmage last night went pretty much as expected with South easily dominating the entire 8 quarters. Huss never led and was outmatched, outplayed and plain dominated. South did not play their two post starters 6'-2" Horowitz and '6-4 1/2" Wicker and even without them Huss was ineffective down low. Cheek dominated the entire game with her outside shot (which has greatly improved) and with her post moves and dribble drives to the basket. What was even more impressive was her defense. She guarded Blackman most of the game and Tiffany never scored a basket let alone get the ball. There was no doubt who the best player on the floor was. SM displayed excellent off the ball defense on the weakside. I would say she outplayed by a long shot their star player Tiffany Blackman. South's guards also outplayed Huss' guards. That is another area where SM has improved from last year. They had no outside shot and sloppy ball handling. A transfer from Kansas City provided athleticism at the 3 spot to help rebound and defend. Another '5-11" post helped defend as well. SM also brought off the bench a '6-2" girls who was hidden on JV last year into the game. She needs to get into the new weight room at South but, she did two very nice drop step moves for scores and did a turnaround jumper for another. She definately has to get stronger. She rebounded well and got a lot of missed shots for put backs. SM guards forced numerous turnovers and were able to put pressure on the Huss guards baseline to baseline. In fact Blackman did not get a shot off for at least the first two quarters of the game because the Huss guards could not get the ball inside. I hope last years game vs Asheville Reynolds was a good barometer of how far we have to go to get to the level of the top schools in NW4A and the mountain region. Some say that the Charlotte Metro area has the talent but, lack good fundamentals in skill positions and coaching and from what I see it is true in many instances. If these schools can ever fuse the two together somehow it might get pretty interesting. SM will play Vance Sat. at 9:00am. @ SM.

 

South Meck absolutely scares me with their all around size. Being a McDowell fan, it brings back memories of Richmond County in 1999 West Regionals. All five of their starters were 6 foot or taller. I get the feeling that the Lady Titans are gonna run into South Meck sometime this season...just courious, any reason behind the two big post players for South Meck not playing last night?

 

The 6-41/2 girl Wicker had a volleyball tourny with her traveling team and the Horowitz kid has a high ankle sprain that is about 2 weeks away.

 

South Meck vs Vance scrimmage

SM won this scrimmage and took all the quarters with the exception of the last which both teams used to play the 10-12 players on the bench. SM was led by LaQuanza Alexander and Joy Cheek. The two shot the 3 ball very well today. They also got fine inside post play from the new kid with the last name Shuey. Vance was led by Lauren Coote. Vance appears a bit taller than last year and they have some new faces but, Stywalt and Coote will have to carry this team.

 

bigdog41, I see that South Meck begins their regular season with two away games, at Hopewell and at Harding. Any thoughts on what you would expect from those games this week? And are there any other matchups of interest on tap for the Charlotte area?

 

SM schedule

Big Dan those will be tough matchups for SM. Hopewell shoots very well and is very disciplined. SM will have height advantage but, Hopewell has added the Allgood kid and she is going to be very good. They also have the better point guard in my opinion in Courtney Rand. The other young lady at the two spot shot SM out last year but, it wasn't enough. SM won by over 20 both games. SM will probably play more man to man this year due to more athleticism and deeper bench. Now Harding is a differernt situation. They split with SM last year. Both teams won on their own courts and both of the victories were convincing. Harding just plain ran SM out the gym at their place at this time last year. Shamica Boular is the most underrated player in Charlotte. She can go on a tear at times against the very best and she can create her own shots. Joy and Shamica will probably guard each other in this one. Harding also has some good inside players and SM better hope that they can contain Katy Foust this time. She sat in the corner and just bombed away last year as a frosh. She has a year of experience and should be much better. I think Harding will be very, very dangerous. Most of these girls play together in AAU with the Charlotte Fire so they know each others best moves. My bet will be very slightly with SM only because of the bench. I think Cheek and Boular will cancel each other out.

 

Hopewell game 69-63

Hopewell beat SM 69-63. It was an excellent game, but the Titans were able to contain Joy Cheek by her fouling out in the 4th quarter. She is definitely a threat, and so are the other SM players. Hopewell is small, quick and feisty. There will be another match-up with Hopewell at SM on Dec.3. :applause:

 

SM vs Hopewell

That was a very exciting game. Everyone thought Hopewell didn't have a chance except someone forgot to tell Hopewell. They executed their game plan to the letter. In fact, they won all quarters. Hopewell was able to counter size and bench with fundamentals and defense by committee. My hat is off to them. This was a team that SM had in previous years run out of the gym. It just shows what a little pride and determination can do. "The little engine that could....." From what I saw, the Harding game maybe tough for SM to handle on the road.