Coach Washington stresses communication for success

Coach Coquese Washington's frustrated glances to the ground or intermittent headshakes during Saturday's home loss against Michigan State told the whole story.

All season long, the coach has made constant improvement on defense the priority of the Lady Lions (11-4, 1-2 in the Big Ten). In particular, she has bemoaned the team's lack of communication and discipline on defense. Most of the players have reflected her sentiments, often answering questions about either offensive successes or shortcomings with something related to defense.

But as the Spartans shot 46.9 percent from the floor and 72.7 percent from 3-point land en route to scoring 46 points in the first half of Saturday's 75-65 loss, Washington could only repeat what she has said in multiple press conferences this year.

"The biggest thing defensively is we weren't communicating," Washington said after the Michigan State game. "We were just very silent on the defensive end."

Silence has been anything but golden for the Lady Lions on defense.

At times this season, the team has seemed slow to transition off of screens, leaving their opposition with open shots.

Their post defense has also been a weakness, as they are next-to-last in the Big Ten in rebounding defense.

Those two areas of defense have helped to explain an enigma on Penn State's stat sheet. The Lady Lions have held
their opponents to the lowest field goal and 3-point field goal percentages in the Big Ten, with respective numbers of 32.3 and 26.3 percent. However, their opponents have also attempted the sixth-most field goals and most 3-pointers in the Big Ten, so the overall defense of Penn State has suffered.

"You have to talk," Washington said. "You have to talk about what's going on on the floor.

In the Lady Lions' four losses this year, they have allowed 74 points per game. That's a far cry from their season average of 59.1 points allowed per game, seventh in the Big Ten.

They've also scored 66.3 points per game in those four losses as opposed to the 75.6 points they've averaged on the season, third in the Big Ten.

Sophomore guard Maggie Lucas thinks that weakness on defense leads to less impressive offensive showings.
"We need to get more hype on defense to create our offense instead of just hanging our heads," Lucas said.

On the other hand, defensive success has been a boon to the Lady Lions' morale and scoring output, said sophomore center Talia East.

"As soon as you get a turnover from another team, you get a stop, you're excited, you're ready to go," she said.
"It definitely helps us."

Some of the communication issues could soon be resolved, though.

One of the team's vocal leaders, junior captain Mia Nickson, has been limited to only seven games due to a concussion.

However, she's played in Penn State's last three games after missing six in a row and appears to be fully healthy for the first time since the season's beginning.

Source: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2012/01/10/womens_basketball_communication_.aspx

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