Glynn Academy prepares for battle with Brunswick High

SEBASTIAN EMANUEL, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·4 min read

Dec. 9—As the City Championship series begins on the hardwood at the Glass Palace tonight, the Glynn Academy Lady Terrors are looking to continue to build the young program under the direction of head coach Myosha Leeper and her staff.

The backbone of the Lady Terrors is their defense. Now, it's about putting both components together to be a dominating force like their rivals crosstown.

"We have a young team," said assistant coach Zee Howard, filling in for the sick Leeper. "Our defense has been our catalyst all summer long and this season. We are trying to capitalize on finding ways to score. We have locked teams down and have done well with executing the defense but now we need to bring that energy and that intensity onto the offensive point. Focusing on offense more, understanding the boxing out, and communication on the floor. Knowing our clientele and what people we have on the floor together and just understanding each other.

"We haven't had enough time as a unit to gel together. We are still trying to put those pieces together, but I will say that we are getting better each time we come out. You see those intangibles we are doing each time we come back out. It is all about now putting it all together and putting the defense with the offense as well."

Picking up its first win of the season on a night that honored the legendary Coach Theresa Adams as she sat behind the bench, Howard said she will look back to the coach she played under for advice.

"Just having Coach Adams behind the bench with me as well and just having her presence there just giving me the reassurance," Howard said. "Every now and then I look back to her and get that OK or if am I doing something wrong or right. This is my first time being in the role, and it's been pretty good. She has been giving me great feedback so I guess it's been exciting, but also I'm nervous at the same time because this is the first time for me being the head coach."

Filling in for the sick Leeper, Howard knows it hasn't been easy just taking over a young program that is preparing to face a Brunswick High team that has been together and went 27-2 last year.

"Making sure that we read the defense. With their cohesiveness, and understanding that they have played together so we have to have our eyes open and be ready for anything because of the simple fact that they have played together and they have gelled well," Howard said. "Making sure that we are alert, and keeping our eyes on the ones that score. Getting back on defense because they like to run and gun, they are a fast-paced team so we have to make sure that we have somebody drop back to stop those fast breaks. We have to capitalize on those things. Coach (William) Robinson — he's emphasizing execution, effort, and energy. That's what we are bringing into that game on Friday. Try to execute, bring that tenacity/effort and the intensity of doing well with those things so we can stop the fast break."

Being a run-and-gun type of team, the Lady Pirates (3-2) are averaging 59 points a game and have the twin towers of Shamya Flanders and Shane' Jackson to use against a smaller Lady Terrors team.

"Working on boxing out," Howard said of the first key to the game. "We definitely have to put a body on some people. The girls on Brunswick have a couple of forwards that are bigger than us so we have to focus on boxing out. Keeping down the turnovers, running the press so we can put pressure on the ball, and communicating on defense down low. Sometimes we have a mishap as far as getting out there on the wing. Having great communication, boxing out, and turnovers.

"Making good quality shots. We are getting shots up but we are not getting good-quality shots. The girls understand when it's a good time to take a shot and when it is a good time to make a pass."

Having played in this type of atmosphere that will bring a packed house to the Glass Palace, Howard wants the team to remain focused on the task at hand and know that they have practiced for situations like this before.

"Just keeping them encouraged and helping them to understand that they can play under this caliber of conditions," Howard said of the moment the City Championship brings. "Remain focused and understand what our mission is of what we set out to do and let's just execute our plan of what we talked about in practice. Understand that we can go out and to those things we see in practice and put it out in a game situation."