Basketball team pins hopes on balance

The Peace Pacers 2011-2012 basketball season officially gets underway Tuesday night with a home game against Barber-Scotia College at 7:00 PM. While the coaches in the USA South picked Peace to finish last in the league, coach Kelly Johnson is optimistic that key newcomers will provide balance to the Pacers and make them a force in conference play.

Peace has just five returnees from last year’s 10-16 squad. But a talented incoming class of three freshmen, along with a recruit from the volleyball team, has Johnson thinking his Pacers could surprise people this year.

“We’ve been perimeter-oriented the past couple of years but I expect we’ll get more offense inside this year than we have in the past,” Johnson said. “Three of our new players are post players and we’ve had more size than we’ve had in the past. We’ve got a little more inexperience there, too. But I think we’ll be balanced. Of our five returning players only one is a post player. So I’m hoping we have more balance than we did last year.”

The new freshmen post players are 6’0 Callie Yohn and 5’8 Derrica Jones. They’ll be supported by new sophomore Shantay Silva, a 5’10 forward who just finished up her first season with the volleyball team. These three are counted on to bring height and toughness and to provide a presence in the paint.

Krystal Williams is the final new recruit and she’ll be counted on as one of the club’s primary ball handlers.

“We’ve got two young ladies who can play the point – Megan Bridges and Krystal Williams,” Johnson said. “I also think Crystal Alston can play the point if she has to. I think we’ve got several ball handlers and that’s good – you can never have too many of those.”

Like all Peace teams under Johnson, expect this year’s squad to play solid defense.

“We’ve got good quickness and we’ve got the quickness to be a very good defensive team,” Johnson said. “You’re going to have nights where you don’t shoot well so your defense has to be consistent. If we can become the defensive team that I feel we could, I think we can be competitive. That will be the key because I think the offense will take care of itself.”

With only nine players on the roster, the Pacers are limited somewhat in how they approach the game. Still, Johnson expects a tough defensive squad.

“We want to get out and pressure. In the past we’ve probably been categorized as a half-court man defensive team that would extend to three-quarters court some. We do have a press but with our numbers we’ll have to watch that. We want to be real aggressive in the half court. We’ll have to pick our spots when we press. I think there will be times where we have to play zone. But our bread and butter has to be our half-court man-to-man defense.”

This year’s schedule features 25 regular-season games, including 13 home contests. The early season highlight is the annual Jackie Ammons Memorial Tournament, which has Peace hosting Salem, Guilford and Concordia (Minn.), with each school playing two games. The Pacers open up against the Salem Spirits on November 18^th and will play either the Quakers or the Cobbers the following day.

Peace plays 18 conference games with the matchups against Meredith and Methodist holding an important place for the players and coaching staff.

“We try to address all games the same,” Johnson said. “Meredith is always big. Methodist is also always a big game for us. Before Meredith got in the conference, Methodist was really our conference rival while Meredith was our rival. Any time we’re playing the North Carolina schools, or any team in our conference, we’re recruiting a lot of the same kids. Those games are special.”

The Pacers play their home games at the Hermann Student Center, located on the Peace campus. While not a huge stadium, the Hermann Center still provides a nice home-court advantage.

“We have a nice home-court atmosphere,” Johnson said. “We always have good support and our girls enjoy playing in here. You go into some of the bigger gyms and you can hear the ball bounce and the coach call out the plays. But in here there’s always a good noise level, good atmosphere and a lot of excitement.”

Johnson is counting on veterans Alston, Bridges, Rebecca Davis, Kellie Hawley and Rachel Lyons to help ease the transition for the newcomers and do whatever it takes to win games.

“The girls have had a great attitude and the returners have shown great leadership. I think we have a chance to be a little better than people think we might be.”