Passing puts Archbishop Wood a step above

Listen carefully when an Archbishop Wood player throws a pass to another player and it’s there.

The Vikings don’t lob or float passes. They snap them around and around, taking as much time as needed until the perfect shot develops. Everything for Wood starts on defense, but the passing has been just as vital a component of the team’s run to the state final.

Like a manual transmission hitting the shift at just the right moment, when a Wood player throws a pass to another player, it hums.

“We snap the pass, it’s something you learn from the moment you start in JV,” Wood senior guard Claire Bassetti said after the team’s semifinal win over Berks Catholic. “You make sure you snap your passes and get it where it needs to go so it doesn’t get picked off by defenders.”

Wood dribbles on offense, but it’s never an amount that bogs things down. The ball is expected to move quickly and pointedly, get it to the next girl and if she’s not open, keep it going. A defense can only rotate and chase for so long, at some point there’s going to be a breakdown.

When that opening appears, whether it comes after two passes or 12, Wood usually capitalizes on them. But it’s not just the guards slinging the ball around. The Vikings’ front line, Kate Connolly, Katie May and Bailey Greenberg, are all capable and smart passers as well.

If a guard throws into the post, the ball might not stay there.

“Our passing is our biggest strength, I don’t think other teams are ready for it,” guard Shannon May said. “We have height, they can all dribble, shoot and pass. They’re all such good players that it probably helps in the forwards playing them probably aren’t used to that.”

As well as Wood moves the ball in half-court sets, the Vikings do it nearly as well in transition. With bigs capable of bringing the ball up and running the floor, plus guards looking to leak out off a rebound, Wood usually ends up with a fair number of fastbreak points each game.

Naturally, a team’s passing gets better throughout the course of a season. The starters get a better feel for each other, the bench rotation solidifies and all those seemingly endless reps in practice become second nature.

“The turning point of the season was when we lost to Cardinal O’Hara and Coach Mike (McDonald) talked about being unselfish with the basketball,” guard Karly Brown said. “We really have tried to focus on that. The extra pass, it’s huge because it provides you even more options than you had before, it gets you even better shots. We’ve focused on that, done it in practice and it’s translated to games.”

Early in the fourth quarter against the Saints, Shannon May made an incisive cut off the wing with Bassetti, stationed at the top of the key, hitting the guard in stride with a pocket pass for a layup. The next possession, Bassetti kicked to Connolly for a 3-pointer.

With 6:12 left in the fourth, Greenberg drove into the lane and just as she got to the hoop and surrounded by Saints, she flicked it out to Connolly for another trey.

“We do a lot of drills in practice,” Brown said. “We do pass-and-cut drills, we’re a pretty strong team too. All our weightlifting probably helps, we’re an athletic team so I guess that’s where the accuracy comes in. The coaches have really focused on that, especially with the offense we run where it’s guard-to-guard at the top, your passes have to be laser-fast and pretty accurate.”

Wood totaled 15 assists on 25 baskets against Berks Catholic, nine on 16 makes against Gwynedd Mercy in the quarterfinals and 16 assists on 23 scores in the second round win over Danville.

While the entire team is moving the ball well, the dynamic between starting guards Bassetti and Cassie Sebold has been a growing trend in the state playoffs. Both are similar in terms of playing style, aggressive on defense and good at getting down the floor in a hurry on offense.

Late in the GMA game, Bassetti forced a steal, sent the ball to Sebold then raced down the floor to get it back and score a layup that essentially sealed the deal for Wood.

“It’s concrete in our bones almost,” Bassetti said. “We’re doing it every single day at practice and getting those reps in.”

Wood is in Hershey for the third straight year, seeking a different outcome after losing the last two state title games.

As long as the ball keeps humming from player to player, this team seems ready to stay on the roll it’s been on since January and do just that.

“I guess that’s why our team is such a crazy threat, we have so much versatility,” Brown said. “With how good our bigs are, they can play any position and we focus on playing every position so that’s where the passing has come into play.”