SMU Recruit Sharee Shepherd

[50's PONY]

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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Sports

March 1, 2004, 11:55PM


Dobie wears down opponents with its offense
By NIKI HERBERT
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

There's nothing fancy or abstract about the Dobie Longhorns' offense.

It's just basketball.

That's what Dobie coach Doug Gibson says.

"It's a philosophy of the way I coach and the way I like to play," said Gibson, who is in his 16th year at Dobie. "You're teaching them how to play the game, not how to run a specific pattern. I just think people scout you at a certain level. If you're so predictable, then they'll know how to stop you."

The Longhorns' halfcourt offense involves lots of motion and reaction. In an era when athleticism, speed and size dictate what plays a team runs, the Class 5A Region III champion Longhorns stay with the tried-and-true formula of pass, pass, pass until the best shot is taken.

It can be point guard Sharee Shepherd firing a 3-pointer or wing Tamara Vaughn penetrating and dishing off. Guard Vanessa Hadley might pop a mid-range jumper. Slasher Karima Christmas can go baseline. Posts Funaki Kefu and Amaka Uzomah might put back a shot, or they might turn around for an easy bucket on the low block. Chewy Agoucha helps account for some of the Longhorns' transition buckets.

Those seven players combine for 55.7 points per game. Only Vaughn (10.6) and Shepherd (10.0) average double figures.

"Our offense is unstoppable," Shepherd said. "It takes a lot of weight off our individual shoulders. I don't have to just shoot it. We can pass off to the posts. If they don't have it, then they can throw it back out. I can pass to Tamara or pass to someone else on the wing. I don't have to take all the pressure on my shoulders."

Watching the Longhorns (32-4), who face Region II champion Westfield (33-4) at 3 p.m. Friday in a Class 5A semifinal, is like watching a Bob Knight team. The ball will be swung several times until the right opening is there. No shot will be forced. Each player is a threat.

"Everybody's involved," Vaughn said. "There's not just one scorer. It balances out with the posts and the guards. We don't see a lot of offenses like ours. It's usually a guard-oriented offense or a post-oriented offense. It gives us a strong advantage because some people can't defend both guard play and post play."

While defenses know Dobie will swing the ball, try to pack it in against a smaller team or outhustle and outsmart other guards, it's not always easy to decipher how the play starts. Gibson has different sets to jump-start the offense, usually resulting in an open look.

"We'll start in a 1-4 set, a double-stack set, or we'll have the box set, the two-guard set, the two-post set, one-wing and one-post," Gibson said. "We want to be flexible enough to attack any defense or personnel that anyone has. We don't want to be pigeonholed. We want to be flexible.

"It also helps us work on our defense at the same time (in practice). You're not memorizing drills or how to look good in drills, because then you get no carry-over to the game. We want carry-over. We want you to react and not be thinking. From year to year, we will put little quick hitters in depending on our personnel.

"There are certain people we want to get the ball to at a certain spot. If someone is hot, we're feeding her the ball. We adjust it. We tweak it here and there."

One of the main reasons Gibson runs the halfcourt set is to tire the defense.

"Most people play good defense for five or 10 seconds, so why go at them when they're at their best?" he said. "Wait until they tire and then attack. We want lots of movement with the ball and away from the ball. We're trying to take away the help side (defense)."

Gibson's players appreciate the type of offense they run. On any given night, a different Longhorn can lead the team in scoring or assists. Vaughn, who averaged 2.5 assists this season, averaged a team-high five assists during the regional tournament. Kefu was the recipient of five of Vaughn's seven assists in a regional semifinal win over Bellaire on Friday night.

"We do really well on whatever defense we go against," Kefu said. "To me, no one can stop us. Our offense is a great set. Whatever defense other teams bring us, we handle it."



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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Sports
This article is: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2428293

[The Q]

Is she signed, of just a recruiting target?

[50's PONY]

Signed!