Nipissing has picked up their first wins of the season, and they did so in back-to-back fashion. A weekend in Waterloo treated the Lakers well as they took down the Waterloo Warriors and Laurier Golden Hawks to head back home 2-4. What can they build off going forward? What worked for the Lakers in their wins? Let's go over a few aspects of their game that beat the Warriors and Golden Hawks.
Nicole Budd is a catalyst
Dribble hand-offs, screen-and-rolls, running the offence from the point guard position, getting to loose balls and getting up the floor the other way, Nicole was involved a lot, and it worked. Something I will talk about more later that has become kind of an identity for the Lakers, and what Nicole does really well is play with aggression, physicality and she gets downhill. She is a player who will set the tone for Nipissing with the ball in her hands but added to that, she is someone who will do a bit of everything and Nipissing uses her in that way.
You saw Nicole's ability to attack downhill in their game against Laurier. Bringing the ball up, dishing to someone at the top of the key and immediately getting it back in a dribble hand-off as she gets inside, she's really difficult to stop in that type of action and you saw it used really successfully at points. Off of that, when she distributes the ball, she does several different things for this Lakers offence, all of which we saw this past weekend.
Using her as the screener like she was at the top of the three-point line several times, and having her roll into the paint. She would either roll into a post-up like in the game against Laurier when the ball handler stayed at the top, or roll directly to the rim to assist on rebounding after a drive. She is really a guard who can play in all phases of their half court as a ball handler or off of the ball, and Nipissing has been taking full advantage of that.
Team rebounding
Especially in the game against Waterloo you saw the advantage of sending numbers into the paint on the offensive glass. Nipissing got 16 offensive rebounds against the Warriors coming from eight different players, and how they were able to counteract Waterloo's strength inside the paint was using various different players on the floor to crash the glass when a shot goes up.
One or two guards around the key or on the perimeter would rush into the paint as soon as a three went up, or the player along the baseline would run in when the ball was taken to the rim, and the Lakers really caught the Warriors players out several times with the speed they were able to get on the glass and come away with second chance opportunities. Using the energy their perimeter players play with to get to the paint before a boxout or swerve their way to good positioning around the rim paid off for Nipissing and they capitalized on a lot of loose rebounds keeping momentum on their side.
Paint touches
Get the ball inside the paint early in the shot clock. Taryn Gauthier, Nicole Budd, Sophie Milner, Katelyn DeCook, Nipissing wants to get one of them with the ball into the paint early in the shot clock and when they do it works really well. What the Lakers can do really well is attack off pick-and-rolls. What you'll see when Taryn or Nicole bring the ball up is them looking inside immediately, and seemingly more often than getting the ball inside through passing, they'll use their ability to get inside themselves. Screens, hand-offs, catch-and-go's, Nipissing want to get their guards inside the paint and they have the mix of speed and physicality to do so.
Nipissing left Waterloo with two wins and a lot to build on with things they've done well so far.