Tampa Catholic Girls Maintain Relentless Tempo

Relentless.

That’s how Tampa Catholic girls basketball coach Nancy Kroll describes her team, and to watch their aggressive, frenetic style of play it’s hard to disagree.

The Crusaders are defending Class 3A state champions, winners of 21 consecutive games and three consecutive district titles.

“That’s what I’ve been asking them from Day 1; you have to keep pushing, you have to keep running, and I think it’s worked for us last year and this year,” Kroll said.

As the Crusaders aim for a third consecutive trip to the state tournament , the high speed drive continues when visiting Avon Park (20-6) comes calling for a regional quarterfinal Thursday night at 7.

Using an up tempo style similar to what former Arkansas men’s coach Nolan Richardson described as 40 minutes of hell, the Crusaders (23-4) will try to wear down the Red Devils with a pressing, trapping defense and fast-breaking offense that averages nearly 60 points a game. Many of those points come from defensive steals and forced turnovers.

With the Crusaders’ tallest player senior Meghan Keough at 5-foot-11, Kroll stresses quickness as an advantage. It also allows TC to move people around without regard to position.

“At times it looks like we’re playing five guards,” Kroll said. “But we need Kai [Jones] to play forward and rebound to get us moving on the break.”

Regardless of where they line up, the Crusaders can look like 10 players on the court to opponents because the pressure never stops. And that’s fine with them.

“We like to push teams to the limit and wear them down,” said Jones, who averages 11.5 points a game and leads the team with nearly 10 rebounds a game and three blocks.

Jones exemplifies the team’s whatever-it takes attitude.

“At our size it’s hard to be a down low, post-up forward, so I try to pop into the lane and look for shots or kick the ball outside to the guards,” she said.

Kroll said the formula to repeat as state champion is to have four players scoring in double figures and the others filling roles defensively on the press and the transition game. The formula has worked to a tee, with University of Central Florida bound Keough leading the way with 21 points a game. Junior Micah Kroll averages 12.4 followed by Jones and sophomore Britney Betts with 11.

The Crusaders are among the best shooting teams in Hillsborough County. Kroll led the county in three-pointers last year, and she’s joined this year by Betts and Keough among the county’s top 10 sharpshooters. They concentrate on shooting drills in practice, but that doesn’t mean defense is overlooked.

“If we’re on, we’re going to be really difficult to stop,” said Kroll, 121-22 in five years at TC. “The great thing about the district final (44-35 victory against St. Petersburg Catholic) was that we weren’t really on offensively, but we were on defensively. We trap and we steal and we anticipate, with Micah one of the tops in the county in steals.”

Kroll also lauded the defensive work of sophomore Danielle Battle.

A victory would move the Crusaders into the regional semifinals against the St. Petersburg Catholic/Fort Meade winner Tuesday at 7 p.m.