Godwin defeats Tucker 34-15 in a game for lovers of defense

Defense reigns.

That’s the plan, anyway, whenever the Mills Godwin Eagles take the court.

You see, Coach Hannah Livermon’s crew thrives on the unglamorous grind that playing relentless and intentional defense requires and finds joy and meaning in the sweat and bruises that result when they do their job, both individually and collectively, and do it well.

Rarely have the Eagles done it as well as they did in their penultimate regular season game Tuesday night at J.R. Tucker when they defeated the Tigers 34-15.

“We absolutely love defense,” said Livermon, whose team improved to 17-4. “That’s Godwin basketball. We harp on that all the time in practice.

“The big thing for us (against Tucker) was that our defensive stops created offensive opportunities in the second half. This team takes a lot of pride in defense.”

The Eagles’ trademark is their man-to-man, often extending over the entire court, for 32 minutes. 

For a while in the first half, they ran a 1-2-2 over three-quarter court and dropped into a 3-2 in the front court to provide a different look and throw the home team off its rhythm.

Their efforts harried Tucker into 5-for-17 shooting, 14 turnovers, and a mere 13 points in the first 16 minutes. 

The Tigers (13-5) also brought their defensive A-game, at least through the first half.

Playing mostly 2-3 zone, they forced 12 turnovers and limited Godwin to 5-for-18 shooting and a mere 11 points.

“Honestly, we came out a little slow and made silly mistakes in terms of our passing and getting good spacing offensively,” Livermon said of her squad’s first-half showing. “When we took a breather and were a little more patient, that’s when our shooters got hot.

“We were looking to be more of a threat. My halftime spiel was that I need all five of you on the court to always be a threat. They took that to heart.”

Though the 23 points the Eagles scored in the second half hardly suggests that they lit up the scoreboard, it does reflect their desire to climb out of their first half doldrums.

“They looked to attack,” said Livermon. “They looked to the basket whether they were shooting or driving or getting a defensive stop and taking it in for a layup.”

At 6:52 of the third quarter, Sydney DeFebo scored on a putback to tie the game at 13. A moment later, Bella Ross hit two free throws to put Godwin up 15-13.

Jai Lynn connected on 1-of-2 from the line to halve the difference to 15-14, but, as the defense-generated pace of action intensified, the Eagles ended the period with an 8-0 run (3-pointer by DeFebo, transition buckets off turnovers by Riley Douglas and Ariana Crowley, and a free throw by Fiona Haas) to take a 23-14 lead into the fourth.

“Putting 32 minutes together is sometimes a battle,” said Crowley, a 5-3 senior point guard. “We picked it up in the second half like we usually do. We got off to a slow start, but we figured it out.”

As the final quarter began, Barret Himmel hit 2-of-2 free throws to build a double digit (25-14) lead which the Eagles never relinquished.

DeFebo added another 3-pointer at 6:43.

At 5:28, Lynn again went 1-of-2 from the line, and Godwin scored the last six points (Himmel’s two close-range buckets and Cayleigh Campbell’s baseline jumper, all off turnovers) to provide the margin of victory.

All told, the Eagles shot 13-for 38, scored 20 points in the paint, and committed 16 turnovers. They limited Tucker to 5-for-28 shooting (including 0-for-11 after the break) and forced 27 turnovers. Each team collected 27 rebounds.

“Defense definitely creates offense,” said Ross, a 5-8 senior. “Our team is very defensive based. When we’re locked in and we get that steal, we go in and finish: two points. When we have all that energy on defense, it really does carry onto offense, and it shows.”

For the Eagles, defense is more than the adrenaline rush of pilfering the ball and converting steals into layups.

“We love playing defense because everyone’s playing together,” Ross said. “When we play together and have that chemistry, it ignites our offense and carries on to the whole game.

“We just love being out there with each other. We really are a team.”