Time is now for Darlington girls

The season-long theme for the National Football League is “Believe in Now.”

The Darlington girls basketball team might have adopted a similar motto earlier this season.

“We’ve been coming close (to reaching the title game) the last few seasons,” Darlington coach Brian Rozzelle said. “I think the girls, and especially the seniors on the team, realized that if they wanted to reach that goal, they’d better do it now.”

Entering the season, expectations on the team were high. After all, three of the Falcons’ seniors were returning starters, and all five members of the starting lineup had seen significant playing time last year.

“I think the biggest thing is we’ve gotten better each time out,” guard Kierra Patterson said. “We were in the second round (of the playoffs) two years ago and the third round last year.

“You always want to take the next step up.”

The “next step up” this year has come in the form of an 18-1 record and a 6-0 mark in Region 6-3A. It’s the best start for any of the seniors, and the best start for any team under Rozzelle, he said.

“We knew what we had with the starters, and we knew we had some good players coming up who could fill roles and provide things off the bench,” Rozzelle said. “It was just a matter of all the players and the team coming together.”

Defensive nightmare

Looking at the stat sheet, it isn’t too difficult to figure out why the Falcons have thrived thus far.

Darlington has three players (Patterson, Jazz Green and Antionette McPhail) averaging 11.8 points or more and another (Shebria Jett) posting nine points a game.

“It’s really nothing more than finding the open man,” said Green, who’s listed as a forward but serves as the Falcons’ point guard. “We have a lot of different players who can score in different situations. It’s a lot about recognizing if we should go outside or inside.”

Rozzelle has given his offense the green light to ad lib.

“We have a certain base play, but there are always a number of things you can do off of that one play,” Rozzelle said. “I don’t try to make things too complicated. I encourage them to shoot, but to make sure it’s the right shot.”

While McPhail has been a presence in the post, the Falcons have done a lot of their damage from outside. Patterson, Jett and McPhail are all shooting 39 percent or better from 3-point range.

“We have a lot of different girls who can shoot,” McPhail said. “That many options make it hard for the other teams to defend consistently.”

Need a change?

The Falcons have had a constant defensive philosophy under Rozzelle.

“Man-to-man,” Patterson said. “That’s what we do almost all the time. It’s something you know you’re going to work on that first day of practice until the end of the season.”

But that doesn’t mean Darlington isn’t open to using other defenses, Rozzelle said.

“We’ve put in some different defenses lately,” he said. “Sometimes one doesn’t work so you try something else.”

And, much like on offense, the Falcon players are given leeway to decide when to change.

“If someone starts to get tired or the man-to-man starts to break down, we’ll go to something else,” Green said. “That way, it gives us time to rest and also see what else works against certain teams.

“You never know. It might be something we use in the playoffs.”

Rozzelle said part of the reason his team is allowed to call its own defenses is trust.

“I’ve had a lot of these players for a long time now,” Rozzelle said. “You learn to trust your players and what they can do on the court. If something needs adjusting, I’ll do that. But I’m happy to let the players play.”

The last step

Two years ago, the Falcons were ousted in the second round of the playoffs. Last year, it was the third round.

“We all know what our main goal is,” McPhail said, “and we know how we have to play to reach that goal.”

Undefeated in region play, the Falcons are well on their way to a possible top seed.

But first things first.

“We have a tough region,” Patterson said. “You have to come into every game focused and everyone on the same page or you’ll lose.

“I think that’s one of the biggest differences from last year.”