The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial
Long Beach Poly stayed undefeated in the Moore League with a 59-43 win over Lakewood using a very simple plan; stop Lakewood’s two best players.
The Jackrabbits executed their plan of attacking and drawing fouls on Lakewood’s Nyemah King and Cristina Jones to a tee, as Poly shot an astounding 31-free throws to help them grow a lead while slowing down the Lancer’s tandem.
“The fouls against them worked in our favor,” said Poly coach Carl Buggs. “We wanted to go at (King) and (Jones) and the plan was to get them into foul trouble and weigh them down so they couldn’t do as much. They are both dynamic, so it was important to accomplish our plan today.”
Despite the game plan, King was able to score a game-high 24-points for Lakewood. However, with her teammate Jones fouled out in the fourth quarter, King was unable to spark any time of comeback.
“To me, they’re the best two players in the league so it’s a great game plan to try and force someone to beat you,” said Lakewood coach Eric Oswell. “We just have to trust our teammates more to make open shots.”
Even when Poly didn’t earn fouls in the paint, the Jackrabbits heavily outrebounded the Lancers to help spark second chance opportunities. Sophomore guard Jorrdyn Washington and six-foot-one Brooklyn Taylor made a living down low, where Taylor picked up the majority of her team’s 17 offensive rebounds to help set up Washington with easy layups and opportunities to draw fouls..
“We work a lot on our rebounds,” said Washington. “Coach can’t sweat it enough, telling us to box out and get the rebounds to get second chance points. I think we executed that a little bit better tonight than previous games, so we just have to keep working hard, keep doing the same thing, and keep executing.”
Washington finished the game with 14-points, alongside 13-points from Taylor, and a game-high 15-points from Jazmyne Shamburger.
Poly will look to close out another undefeated Moore League season, as they resume league play on Wednesday against Wilson after facing Lynwood on Saturday.
As for Lakewood, the Lancers will face Millikan on Wednesday and will gear up for their rematch against Poly in a few weeks on Jan. 29.
