Demonettes trying to balance shooting and aggressiveness at the rim with return of Kennedy Bradshaw

Kennedy Bradshaw’s three-point shooting is a breath of fresh air to a Warner Robins offense that’s desperately needed a shooter in recent years.

Laila Howard-Haney has worked on her shot but at this stage she’s not a volume shooter. Even Tori Davis, who’s best attribute was her shooting, was streaky.

Not to say that Bradshaw has been lighting it up every night but if she can keep hitting threes like she did against Houston County the Demonettes will be in a good spot. She drained four treys on her way to 18 points in an 85-18 victory.

“[Her shooting] opens it up big time, especially when she’s hitting,” Head coach Rebecca Ivory said. “She just got to continue to hit.”

Making the defense respect even one shooter on the outside will open up driving lanes in a way the Demonettes haven’t been able to the last couple of years. It’s one reason why their transition offense is so important.

But what’s also important to Ivory is that Warner Robins maintains their aggressiveness going to the rim. One of the issues the Demonettes had in the first half of their second game against HoCo was their volume of outside shots.

Sure they were up by 27 at halftime, but Ivory has come to expect more from teams in her program. A high volume of outside shots, especially in high school, don’t often work in your favor.

“A lot of times in today’s basketball game they see the long ball all the time,” Ivory said. “The mid-range game is almost [gone], people don’t even see it anymore. But every day we practice the mid-range game [and] going to the rim. If they can’t stop you going to the rim you got to keep going and finishing, old school basketball.”

That applies to everyone in the program, from freshmen to seniors. Regardless of seniority or experience Ivory says her expectations don’t change.

“My expectations are never gonna change whether you’re a freshman or a senior,” Ivory said. “I always tell them we’re only as strong as our weakest link so our expectations have to be the same.”

This year’s Demonettes have encouraged her early, especially with the way they support each other.

During the game Tuesday as the starters began to sit out, they remained engaged with the game by cheering on the reserves.

“I’m proud of them,” Ivory said. “We’ve been talking about the things that the bench can do and staying involved…they’re buying into that. That’s really big in girls basketball today, just buying into the whole system. They’re doing that.”