Brady's Roadhouse

Both the Waynesburg women’s and men’s basketball teams take on the St. Vincent Bearcats on Saturday. The women play in Latrobe at 2 p.m., and the men play simultaneously at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse. The St. Vincent women’s team has a record of 2-0 and the men’s team has a record of 1-1.

 Women’s head coach Sam Jones realizes how good of a shooting team they are.

“As a team they’re shooting 45% from the three-point line and over 50% from the field,” Jones said. “They have a bunch of really talented kids that can shoot the ball.”

Jones knows what the Lady Jackets must do to contest all of St. Vincent’s shots.

“We’ve got to move when the ball moves,” Jones said. “As soon as it leaves the passer’s hands, you’ve got to be moving on the flight of the ball.

St. Vincent has five players that average double digit points each game. Jones knows that they have a lot of depth.

“You can’t shut down one or two kids,” Jones said. “They’re bringing kids off the bench that are scoring 8 or 9 points a game and are capable of more on a given night.”

Jones has a few keys to success for the Lady Jackets to get their first win on the season.

“We’ve got to take care of the basketball, we need to be efficient on offense,” Jones said. “We need to be intentional on transition defense, and we’ve got to win the battle of the boards.”

Men’s head coach Tim Fusina realizes that St. Vincent likes to play inside.

“They’re a team that wants to drive it at you, drive it to the paint,” Fusina said. “Guarding the ball is going to be our biggest point of emphasis going into this game.”

St. Vincent forward Shemar Bennett is second in the PAC in scoring and rebounding so far this season. He only scored a combined 8 points in two games against Waynesburg last season.

Fusina knows his team needs to make things difficult in the post for Bennett.

“We make it an emphasis to make sure that we’re helping on to the post,” Fusina said. “Our help side position is where they need to be.”

Junior forward Isaiah Alonzo realizes what his team has to do to come away victorious.

“We just have to play defense the way that coach is teaching us right now,” Alonzo said. “Stick to our game plan. Just come out and give that great effort that we have been every single night.”