There’s a simplicity in fundamentals.
Strong passes, set screens, hands-free defense. The list could go on and on, and it will look much like No. 1 Concord Christian’s season after its 49-25 win over No. 8 Littleton.
The Lady Kingsmen (18-0) have been the most dominant program in Division IV all season long and added another reference to their resume after Friday’s quarterfinal win over the Crusaders (13-7).
CCA set the pace from the opening jump with Sarah Muir scoring a quick layup — the first of her team-high 18 points during the night.
The point guard, only an eighth-grader, already looks the part of an experienced varsity player with her quick cuts and court vision for passes.
Defensively, she and the rest of her teammates were quick in transition and intercepted plenty of carefree passes tossed with too much open space.
But this hasn’t been anything new this year, at least not according to coach Rebecca Carlile.
“We thought that they might be successful,” she said. “It’s been joyful, we aren’t trying to meet anyone’s expectations. No one has any expectations of us.”
A dark-horse mentality can provide many things in sports, but an edge and fearlessness are among the top of those. With the lead and game well in hand, it didn’t matter if there were starters or bench players in the game for the Lady Kingsmen, the effort remained the same.
That meant the effort on the press during a Crusader inbound, trying to steal the ball at any point and finding the most possible open look instead of shooting just to shoot. Every game, CCA and its young roster – four eighth-graders and two freshmen are the majority – continue to learn something new.
And the highlight of it all is that for most, there’s still four more seasons to go, giving the program a chance for a special run for years to come.
But before any talk of dynasty can happen, CCA has to take care of business with what’s in front of it. Despite going through the regular season with relative ease, the playoffs can inspire any team in the division to pull off an upset and being the number one seed, the target on its back in the stretch run.
The Lady Kingsmen know that, but they don’t acknowledge it. In pursuit of their first state title, they know that it’s a process. The gym lights will get brighter, the competition – though seen before – will play harder and a next game isn’t a guarantee. That process continues, however, next week in the semifinals with a rematch against No. 4 Woodsville (17-3).
CCA and Woodsville never met in the regular season, which should make Wednesday’s game even more of a challenge for the undefeated squad.
“They’re excited for every game, they were ready to play today all day long,” Carlile said. “We’re just going to keep working hard and see what we can do. We haven’t done anything yet, so we’ve got to take it one game at a time.”