Winfield girls basketball winning with defensive pressure, quickness

WINFIELD, W.Va. — Winfield may have its best and most talented girls basketball team since its last state championship in 2006.

Under second year head coach Shawn Lucas, the Generals (18-3) have built a deep and athletic roster.

“I think what we do best of all as a team is that we have great quickness and we’re a pressing team,” Lucas said. “We really cause a lot of chaos when we play our opponents, we get a lot of transition baskets and it has worked really well for us so far.”

This year’s Winfield team features seniors Emily Moore, Meagan Cavender, Mary Lawman and Lauren Harvey, but freshman ZZ Russell has helped everything come together as the leading scorer and ball distributor.

“She is one of the best point guards that I have seen in the last two years,” Lucas said. “She has developed her outside shooting and become a complete player, along with her great quickness of getting to the basket. When she’s determined to get (to the basket), she’s very difficult to stop.”

Russell has made a huge difference on a team that had a losing record last season at 10-15 — its final year at the Class AAA level before the drop to Class AA. Lucas, though, said he could see some positive signs starting the build.

“We felt like we made great progress last year,” Lucas said. “Adding (Russell) to the team gave us a complete team. The biggest asset to our team is that we have so much speed. With the pressing style that we have, we don’t let teams get into a half-court game.”

After a 7-0 start, Winfield’s first loss this season came in December at the hands of Class A defending champion Gilmer County and its outstanding center Riley Fitzwater. The Generals then won 10 games in a row before suffering losses last week to AAA power Parkersburg South and Logan.

But Lucas believes his team is capable of making a deep run in March because of its defensive ability and pressing style.

“We’re a trapping team and we’re multiple,” Lucas said. “We’ll mix it up a little bit with some zone-presses and some man-presses. We’re very deep on our bench and can sub with quality players off of the bench. Defensively, we’re long and quick. ZZ (Russell) probably averages four to six steals per game.

Winfield won Class AA girls basketball state championships in 2004 and 2006. The Winfield girls soccer program, meanwhile, is a dynasty with five consecutive state championships — four in Class AAA and this past season in Class AA/A.

Lucas said he’s had great success selling basketball to some of the athletes in the school.

“We were able to walk the hallways, talk with some of the girls and get them to come out (for basketball),” Lucas said. “The soccer program is very successful and we were able to get a few of those girls to come out (for basketball) to kind of complete the team.”

“As a coaching staff, we were a little bit surprised early as to where we were at,” Lucas added. “But as we started winning, we realized that we might have a chance. We still have tough games ahead, but I think those matchups will help us as we get into sectional play.”