Coach's Stomp Speaks Volumes

Great Mills Responds With Full-Court Pressure Against Hurricanes: No. 19 Great Mills 65, Huntingtown 44

Great Mills junior forward Shawnese Taylor is legally deaf. Her coach, Brian Weisner, uses a special wireless microphone during games that connects to Taylor's hearing aid, allowing her to hear only him, not the crowd and not her teammates.

But even when Weisner simply stomps his foot, as he often did even in Great Mills's 65-44 win over Huntingtown on Friday, Taylor and the rest of the Hornets immediately respond.

"You can't miss it," Taylor said.

With much of the same roster that went 22-3 last season and lost in the 3A regional final, Weisner and the Hornets are expecting near-perfection this season. Even Friday night's win, which extended 19th-ranked Hornets' record to 12-0 (6-0 in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference), left Weisner a tad peeved.

"I wasn't pleased with anything," Weisner said, before reconsidering. "No, no, no. I was. There was a lot we did well. There are a lot of things we need to improve on."

Despite forcing turnovers on Huntingtown's first three possessions for a pair of easy layups, Weisner yelled at his players for not communicating while executing the full-court press. The Hornets built an 8-1 lead, but Huntingtown (6-5, 4-2) stayed tough, ending the first quarter only three points behind.

After an impassioned speech, Great Mills looked more determined at the start of the second quarter. Corleda Naylor put the Hornets up 19-14 before Weisner demanded a timeout and hollered at the girls to come to the bench.

"He always stomps his foot, and that automatically gets your attention," senior Ashley Lindsey said. "If you don't look over, it gets louder."

Great Mills responded, holding Huntingtown to one field goal in the second quarter and outscoring the Hurricanes, 23-6, to put the game out of reach. The Hornets got balanced scoring, with Naylor (12 points) and RyShawn Butler (13) leading the way.

Huntingtown opened the third quarter with a 6-4 run, and Weisner, who said he doesn't typically take many timeouts, stalked down the sideline after a Hurricanes field goal and used a full timeout.

Weisner remembered this timeout after the game. So did Taylor and Lindsey, as they laughed about what transpired.

"The second one had a lot more fire in it," Weisner said.

Lindsey came to the sideline, saying the full-court press wasn't working. Weisner fired back that it wasn't working because the girls weren't communicating.

"All they have to do is work hard and talk," Weisner said. "I don't care if we win as long as we do those things and play to our potential. I might be hard to please because it's hard to play to your potential every game. But I don't think hustling and talking are hard to ask from high school kids."

Even Great Mills fans weren't satisfied by the end of the game. When Butler put the Hornets up by 30 near the start of the fourth quarter, a fan yelled out, "Now that's the 30-point lead I'm used to!"

"They're used to big leads," Weisner said with a grin.