After a slow start to the Game Time League season, Clark Anderson’s team will get a shot at the league’s best team. Despite being heavy underdogs, Anderson and Company seem poised to knock off Brendan Unkrich’s team.
That squad is 3-0 heading into the final week of the regular season. The team has rolled the competition week after week, placing a target on its back heading into the playoffs.
“If we play the way we know we can, we can beat anyone in the league,” said St. Ambrose guard Morgan Myers, a member of Anderson’s team.
Myers and her teammates got their first win of the season last week behind overwhelming performances from former North Dakota State center Ali Browning and Iowa point guard Sam Logic.
The two seemed be on the same page all night, always knowing where to find one another on the court.
“Sam’s great at creating,” Browning said. “We know if we keep working, she’ll work to get us the ball.”
Logic and Browning scored 23 points each in their 91-76 victory, with Logic adding 12 rebounds and 12 assists in a triple-double performance.
It was an encouraging night for Anderson’s team, which struggled in the first two weeks of competition. But this week will be a new challenge — they will face a team that has yet win in anything but a dominant fashion.
Unkrich’s team is averaging a whopping 27-point margin of victory per game, while Anderson’s squad’s average point differential is minus-9. They also are facing the daunting tasking of slowing down Ally Disterhoff, who has lit up the league offensively through the first three weeks.
“Ally’s been playing great and attacking the basket real well,” Logic said. “She’s someone we might not be able to stop but definitely have to contain.”
Logic knows defensively her squad will have to be stout. Disterhoft may carry the load on offense, but her teammates have been nothing but opportunistic.
The well-rounded effort has resulted in the league’s best offense, and Unkrich’s team has been far and away the best defensively as well.
“We need to remember to pass the ball and not rush,” Browning said. “Making sure we’re getting the ball to everyone will be key.”
But the real strength of Anderson’s team is in its fast-break potential. A variety of athletic guards like to play high-tempo ball, and if they want to pull off the upset, creating turnovers and opportunities in transition is their best bet.
It starts with defense for Anderson’s team. Relying too much on their half court offense could be costly, because they face a team giving up just 69 points per game.
But Logic, Browning, and the rest of Anderson’s team look as if they’re starting to figure things out, making this week’s clash all the more entertaining.
“If we play our game and push the ball in transition, we can control the pace,” Myers said. “And Sam can run the floor and find the open person or finish at the hoop, so I like our chances.”