American School In Japan poses with its championship banner following a 46-38 win in the girls' Division I Far East Tournament championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, at Naval Base Yokosuka, Japan. ASIJ repeated as champion and collected its third overall title. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
American School In Japan poses with its championship banner following a 46-38 win in the girls' Division I Far East Tournament championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, at Naval Base Yokosuka, Japan. ASIJ repeated as champion and collected its third overall title. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
American School In Japan's Kate Latimore redirects a shot attempt by Kadena's Linda Vaughan during the girls' Division I Far East Tournament championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, at Naval Base Yokosuka, Japan. Latimore finished with 12 points in the 46-38 win and was named Tournament MVP. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena's Jasmine Rhodes finishes a fast break opportunity during the girls' Division I Far East Tournament championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, at Naval Base Yokosuka, Japan. Rhodes, an All-Tournament Team selection, was held to seven points in the game, her lowest total of the tournament. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena's Linda Vaughan looks for a shooting lane as American School In Japan's Kate Latimore and Allie Rogers defend during the girls' Division I Far East Tournament championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, at Naval Base Yokosuka, Japan. ASIJ's triangle and two defense slowed a Kadena offense that had averaged 28-point victories in their previous five tournament games en route to a 46-38 win. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
American School In Japan's Mia Weinland comes down awkwardly over Kadena's Tiarrah Edwards after taking a short jump shot during the girls' Division I Far East Tournament championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, at Naval Base Yokosuka, Japan. Weinland led all scorers in the game with 22 points and was named to the All-Tournament team. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
NAVAL BASE YOKOSUKA, Japan -- American School In Japan coach Julie Rogers knew exactly what she needed her team to do if they were going to repeat as Far East Division I champions against the high-scoring Kadena Panthers.
Bring their JV game.
"Our JV team recently played Seisen in a championship game and [Coach Shannon Hambleton] had to change her team's strategy because Seisen has two excellent scoring guards," Rogers explained after her team’s 46-38 triumph over the Panthers. "We already lost twice in the year to them so the question became, 'how do you stop two very good players?'"
The answer was the triangle and two defense, a defense where the forwards and center play zone and the guards play man.
"That defense slowed down Seisen enough for our girls to win the championship," Rogers said.
After getting blown out by Kadena in the round robin, with high-scoring guards Jasmine Rhodes and Alicia Vaughan pouring in 40 combined points, Rogers knew she wanted to try the defense on Kadena if they had the chance in the tournament.
"We decided to test it against Kinnick in the round robin since the game would only decide who would be the home team," Rogers said. "Luckily, Kadena left the gym to eat lunch, so we could practice the new defense for the entire game."
And fortunately for Rogers, her team would get a second chance at Kadena. The scheme worked as designed with Kadena's two scoring guards watching their output cut in half with 19 combined points, most coming from free throws.
Kate Latimore, the lanky 6-foot-2 team captain anchoring ASIJ's frontcourt, didn't hesitate to trust her coach's decision to change their defense. She was on last year's championship team and wanted another title despite the challenge.
"For a scheme to work, though, we have to execute it," Latimore said. "I'm so fortunate to have teammates who really believe that and will do their best to make it happen."
Chief among those teammates, and the one with maybe the biggest challenges of the night, was freshman Lizzie Hill. The young guard was asked to play man defense all night against Rhodes, an explosive athlete who torches even the most experienced defenders regularly.
“She worked so hard to contain Rhodes tonight,” Latimore said. “Of course you can’t completely stop a player as good as number two [Rhodes’ jersey number], but Lizzie had one of the most important parts to make the entire plan work.”
For Kadena, this is the second consecutive year they lost to ASIJ in the Far East final. Despite the disappointing ending, head coach Willie Ware said he couldn’t be prouder of the way his team worked and played this season.
“They’ve done everything we asked them to do and improved from Day One. It breaks my heart to see it end like this,” Ware said. “But give credit to ASIJ for scouting us well and recognizing a weakness. We just couldn’t get it going, but I know my girls gave it everything tonight and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Twitter: @james_kimber
MVP - Kate Latimore, American School in JapanAll-Tournament Mia Weinland, Allie Rogers, Lizzie Hill, ASIJ; Alicia Vaughan, Jasmine Rhodes, Elva Harris, Tiarrah Edwards, Kadena; Shakita Samuels, Rhyssa Hyzon, Charla Johnson, Nile C. Kinnick; Chloe Stevens, Leigh Trumble, Kubasaki; Sierra Furner, Shawntae Kidd, Seoul American
