Murray shuts down Olympus

It wasn't exactly the prettiest game, but the Murray girls' basketball team did manage to beat top-ranked Olympus, 44-30, last week.

One of the keys to victory was the Spartans' defensive pressure. They forced 25 Olympus turnovers and held them scoreless in the first quarter.

"They dominated us high and low last time," said Murray coach Lisa White. "We made our team play defense. We worked hard to stop them from getting the ball in the post."

Coach White's defensive strategies centered on denying Olympus senior Michelle Pace. Even though Pace had a team high of 11 points, the rest of the lady Titans were ice cold. Murray's Keisha Catten scored 12 points but it was her defense that made the biggest difference.

"She stepped up and played Pace well — really great defense on Pace," White added.

While both teams were struggling from the field, the difference in the game came down to turnovers and Murray won that battle. Murray's duo of Catten and Chavalah Washington turned the game into a blowout.

Leading 20-11, the Spartans pulled away from Olympus by pressuring the Titans with a full court press. Washington led the way with ten steals, converting many of them into lay-ups or fouls.

"You just watch her in practice and she gets to every loose ball," White said. "She's got a great eye for the ball."

The team nicknamed her Spiderwoman because she's shown such great hand-eye coordination in stealing the ball this year. Washington played with determination and focus for the entire game. Her ball-hawking pressure forced the Titans into bad shots and turnovers. Washington was motivated by much more than the triple overtime defeat they suffered at Olympus back on Jan. 3.

"It was a really important win for us," she said. "All of the papers said that they were the team to beat so we just wanted to prove them wrong."

Washington finished the game with 12 points and 10 steals for a double-double.

Senior guard Catten brought the crowd to its feet with the play of the game. She took the ball through three Olympus defenders for a driving reverse lay-up. The coast-to-coast move gave Murray a stranglehold on the game and broke Oly's 10-game winning streak.

With the playoffs looming, the win pulled Murray into a tie (in the loss column) with Olympus for the top spot in Region 6.

Coach White wants her team to keep things in perspective.

"It's a whole different world when you get to state," she said. "We don't know much about teams outside our region."

Murray plays at Granger tonight before a pivotal match-up with East next Tuesday.

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E-mail: tpeterson@desnews.com