C.A. Johnson girls shut down Calhoun Falls

C.A. Johnson has made a habit of limiting what other teams try to do offensively. The Green Hornets were back in the second round of the Class A girls basketball playoffs as they pressed, harassed, and stymied Calhoun Falls in a 67-19 victory Thursday night.

“We play well defensively because we don’t look at the score,” C.A. Johnson fourth-year coach Marlon Smith said. “We have the mindset not to look at the scoreboard. We just want to get out and play defense. At the end of the game, we’ll look up to see how well we’re doing.”

To say they’ve been doing it well since the start of region play would be an understatement. C.A. Johnson (21-4) has held its last eight opponents to 28 points or less. The main reason is the Green Hornets press and trap all over the floor, and use the defensive pressure to get easy baskets on the offensive end.

All-State selection Kaitlin Pickens was the main benefactor of that. The senior scored 29 points with nine steals, and was the one getting out on the break after a Calhoun Falls turnover. She had 19 points in the first half when the Green Hornets forced the Blue Flashes into 29 of their 51 turnovers.

“We just played hard on defense to try and get out and run on offense,” Pickens said.

C.A. Johnson led 17-5 after one quarter and 39-8 at the half. It limited Calhoun Falls (12-6) to two first-half field goals and five overall, two of which came in the last minute.

“The girls are hard-working and get lots of repetition,” Smith said. “This is a veteran squad that we’ve had since the eighth grade. We keep them here every summer and we preach defense and layups. The intensity and hustle is there and from that we try to get out and run and make our layups.”

Smith usually schedules a grueling non-region schedule so the Green Hornets will be tested once they get to the region and playoffs. They’ve faced Class 3A and top-ranked Dreher twice, Sumter, Manning, Airport, and Swansea this season.

“In our pre-region schedule, we always play 2A, 3A and 4A schools,” Smith said. “We go to Crestwood tournament every Christmas break. When we get to our region or our classification we feel like we can play because we’ve been battled-tested along the way.”

Pickens said that has helped the Green Hornets. They haven’t lost since December.

“Playing those type of team’s, it prepared our minds,” Pickens said. “We know what we have to do and we plan on playing like we did in the region.”

Senior Demetrius Bryant added 12 points and junior Narjai Besheer chipped in 10 points and 11 rebounds.

This moves C.A. Johnson into the third round for the second straight year. The Green Hornets will go on the road to face Calhoun County on Monday.

“We want to get what we thought should have happened last year,” Smith said. “We were hoping to get back to this point and we’re ready to meet the challenge to see of how we can do.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "C.A. Johnson girls shut down Calhoun Falls."