Who’s got it better than the Strawberry Crest girls basketball team? Right now, the answer is nobody.
The Lady Chargers have made program history by winning all 20 of its games this season, often by a large margin. While the program has been one of the Plant City area’s elite under head coach La’Tosha Lewis, this red-hot start is among the best the area’s ever seen.
And now, the team is one game away from calling it an undefeated season.
What are these athletes doing out there that’s working so well?
MAKING IT HAPPEN
This year, Crest is making the most out of its loaded frontcourt. Much of its scoring output comes from the Matthews twins, Ayanna and Brianna, who average a combined 28.7 points per game. On their own, that would be enough to win nine of the Lady Chargers’ games thus far. Add in the 11.6 per game from senior Terra Brooks, and the total of 40.3 would win the team 15 games.
Ayanna Matthews, a recent Plant City Times & Observer Athlete of the Week, is one of the team’s primary scoring options. But this year, her sister leads the team with 3.2 assists per game, over a full dime more than Ayanna Matthews’ 2.1 per game.
Of course, those aren’t the only three players making an impact. Big victory margins wouldn’t have been possible if not for Crest’s stifling defense, which is grabbing 34.1 rebounds per game, as well as 18.5 steals and 3.2 blocks. This is also where Brooks shines brightest — she leads the team with averages of 9.6 boards and 1.7 blocks. Senior India Corbin’s 6.2 boards per game are also crucial to the Crest machine.
The Lady Chargers aren’t a high-efficiency squad, having shot 37% from the field (24% from three-point range).
But teams don’t average 63 points per game without taking a lot of shots, and the Chargers put up nearly 56 shots per game. Of these shots, 226 have been three-pointers, and sophomore Luz Cruz has both attempted (82) and made (25) the most. Cruz, playing on the wing, has shown potential to improve upon her 30% three-point shooting mark and be a key for Crest’s future.
Taking so many shots also requires getting a lot of possessions, and Crest has been adept at forcing turnovers. The Matthews twins, Brooks and senior Sydnie Miller make up most of Crest’s steals totals, but there are only four players that average less than one per game — and three of them are only sophomores.
Crest isn’t following the same formula as it has in recent years but, if it’s shown any kind of pattern in the numbers, it’s that the team excels at something different each year.
ACROSS THE BOARD
In the past three seasons, Crest teams have won no fewer than 20 total games and averaged roughly 63 points and 11 assists per contest. Those outputs rarely fluctuate, but other stats do.
Last year’s team, led by Brooks and Maiya Trigg, made up for lower steals and rebounding numbers with high scoring efficiency. That team shot an excellent 53% from the field, averaging almost two points per possession. It also averaged a whopping 7.5 blocks per game, swatting more than twice as many shots as the current squad.
The 2013-14 team, which starred Aliyah Gregory, gave teams nightmares by averaging 22.4 steals per game. Most of them came from Gregory herself — she averaged 6.6 per game — and that led in part to her scoring almost one third (20.7) of the team’s 62.6 points per game.
Although Brooks is set to graduate, the return of the Matthews twins suggests that many of next year’s totals will look similar to this year’s. And, with the way players like Cruz are developing, losing five seniors to graduation this year might not be so devastating.
Whether Crest wins or loses its final game, one thing is certain: few coaches in the area know how to maximize talents like Lewis.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.