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Osseo's 3 talk 'D'

By AARON PAITICH, Special to the Star Tribune, 12/06/11, 5:45PM CST

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Coach Joey Waters in more interested in points prevented than points scored -- and getting to the state tournament.


Osseo's Phillis Webb guards Sartell-St.Stephen's Haley Guetter in the first half Saturday of a game during the Breakdown Tip Off Classic in Hopkins. SPECIAL TO THE STAR TRIBUNE/KATHY M HELGESON SPECIAL TO THE STAR TRIBUNE/KATHY M HELGESON

For a team loaded with offensive weaponry, it's almost disingenuous to preach defense as its overall strength and focus.

In the halls at Osseo, it's the truth. Head coach Joey Waters doesn't want her players to talk about how many points they scored but rather how many they prevented.

"We kind of mold to just love and die defense," said Waters, who played college ball at Minnesota State Moorhead. "It really doesn't matter who puts the ball in the hoop. It's 'did we play defense enough to make the other team have less points.'"

Gophers recruit Mikayla Bailey leads the high-intensity effort. She came up with a steal in the last 30 seconds of last Saturday's game against Sartell-St. Stephen that eventually sent Janay Morton to the free-throw line for the winning baskets in Osseo's season opener.

Each player fills a specific role under Waters. Sure, everybody wants to score, but when the Orioles have three veterans setting an example on the defensive end, their energy is contagious.

"If I get it going, and Janay and Phillis [Webb], we all start playing hard," Bailey said. "I think the girls feed off of us."

Bailey, Morton and Webb give the Orioles three dangerous and dynamic guards. Each of them brings different elements to the team, and after a few years of playing together, they have the chemistry to back it up.

"We jell," Bailey said. "I love giving Phillis the ball and she'll go inside. And Janay, she works well with me, and we all are very passionate about the game. That helps."

Morton, a playmaker and Division I prospect, averaged 11.2 points per game last season as a sophomore and has experience running the offense. Morton gets to the lane and draws fouls.

Webb, also a D-I prospect, rebounds with tenacity. The junior averaged 15.2 points per game and brings inside finishing ability.

"She can jump out of the ceiling," Bailey said.

While Bailey is hard-nosed on the defensive end, opposing teams forget that she's also a talented three-point shooter.

She led the Orioles with 18 points in Saturday's victory.

Add in forward Olivia Antilla, a transfer from Benilde-St. Margaret's who led the Red Knights in scoring last year and helped them win a state title in 2009 and that's potentially four D-I players in Osseo's starting five.

Waters' team was ranked fourth in Class 4A before this season started, a footnote she ignores. After finishing 25-4 last year and clinching the Northwest Suburban Conference championship, the Orioles fell to Maple Grove in the Class 4A Section 5 final. That loss lingered for a while.

"It was tough to get over, but I think it makes us that much hungrier to come out this year and get to state," Bailey said. "Because this is the year. It's my senior year, and this is the last year we'll all be together. This is the year we really want to go all the way."

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