Your Ohio Team of Week: Anderson's girls' toughness led to turnaround after 1-22 season

Cincinnati Enquirer readers voted Anderson girls basketball as the Ohio Team of the Week, based on votes tallied on Feb 8. Winning teams receive a feature that runs the following week.

Anderson head girls basketball coach Phil Sheldon's worst season actually turned out to be one of his favorites.

In 2016-2017, then in his second year at Anderson, Sheldon's club lost its last 16 games and landed firmly in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference cellar at 1-22. 

But the team's energy and effort never wavered. The Redskins lost 13 games by 20-plus points, but carried themselves with an unmatched intensity that was never altered by a lopsided deficit. 

"When we were 1-22, even if we were down 30 points, they never stopped playing. They tried where they would only lose by 20. They would be diving on the floor in the fourth quarter down 35 points," Sheldon said. "Coaches would come up to us after the game and say 'man, you guys play so hard.' One of my most enjoyable seasons was going 1-22 because I knew these kids had something that I couldn't teach."

Two years after finishing as the penultimate Division I team in Ohio (198th overall), Anderson carries a 16-6 record into this season's sectional tournament. It's Anderson's first winning season since capturing an ECC title in 2015. 

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Sheldon credits the turnaround to his team's toughness. It takes a certain degree of resiliency to go 9-37 over the last two seasons and then churn out a 16-win season. 

"It's probably the greatest attribute you could have as an athlete is toughness, both mentally and physically," Sheldon said. "Being tough, it knows no gender, no color; it's just an advantage. Winning doesn't happen by accident. Toughness is the greatest attribute you could have and they have it." 

Opponents have found out how tough Anderson can be on defense, which has fueled the Redskins this season. During the 1-22 campaign, Sheldon's team had a goal to hold teams under 40 points per game, but the average ballooned to 56.7 by season's end. 

The corner was turned this season on the defensive end, though. Anderson currently gives up just 38.5 points per game, second in the ECC to state-ranked Walnut Hills. The Redskins clinched a winning conference record (8-6) on Feb. 9 by holding Kings to just nine first-half points and 23 percent shooting in a 40-34 victory. 

"They have really bought in to two things: defense and communication," Sheldon said. "They communicate well one and off the court and they take pride in it. They love playing defense and don't want to make mistakes. Even at practice, they take such pride in defending and they don't want their guy to score." 

In year's past, Anderson had a hard enough time keeping games within single digits. The Redskins were 8-10 in such contests over the last three years, but have flipped that script this season with an 8-0 record in tight affairs. Anderson is also unbeaten in overtime this season, winning three times in OT over a 16-day span in January. 

"That's toughness," Sheldon said. "These kids learned it two years ago when they did not stop playing. They've been down seven or eight in the fourth quarter and they've won those games."

Sheldon said one of those OT wins was the season's biggest turning point, that showed why 2018-19 was going to be a change for the better. Trailing by three in the waning seconds of regulation, junior Elizabeth Homan drilled a three-pointer at the horn to send the game to overtime, where Anderson would prevail, 42-39. 

"That's when I knew something was special. They learned how to win," Sheldon said. 

Homan and Karley Steinher are two key components on this year's team that were freshmen gaining varsity experience on the 1-22 squad. 

Homan, who averaged 7.1 points per game in 2017, is third in the ECC in assists (64) and three-pointers made (39) this season.

"She runs the show and she's one of the best point guards in the ECC," Sheldon said. "She's improved her three-point shooting percentage and she's over 30 percent right now. She's been a big part of us being successful."

Steinher is one rebound shy of averaging a double-double on the year. The junior has tallied four of them this season, including a 21-point, 20-board performance in the aforementioned win over neighboring school McNicholas.

Sheldon calls fellow junior Mackenzie Burdick "the definition of relentless." Burdick has scored in double figures six times this season and grabbed a season-high 14 rebounds in a three-point win over Milford Jan. 26. 

Anderson has found different ways to win this season. Some nights they are a fast-paced offense that generates a swift flow of the game and is lethal from beyond the arc. The Redskins, who are second-best three-point shooting team in the ECC, hit 10 first-half triples in a 65-33 victory over Harrison Jan. 31.

On other nights, though, the Redskins have the versatility to overcome a sub-par offensive showing with a stifling defense that forces tough shots and creates turnovers. Anderson and Turpin combined to go 14-for-60 from the field in a war of attrition on Dec. 8. The Redskins made just 1 of 18 three-point attempts and missed eight free throws, but forced more turnovers (23) than they allowed shots attempted (20) and outscored the Spartans 16-10 in the second half to hang on, 28-25. 

More:Your Ohio Team of the Week: Cincinnati Christian basketball hungry for another banner year

"I can't teach effort and intensity - I can't coach it. A lot of coaches understand that," Sheldon said. "What sums up my team is that they've really adopted the idea that you want to be easy to play with, but you want to be hard to play against." 

For most teams, going 15-53 combined over the last three years would've made their goals for this season very modest. That's not the case for Sheldon and company, which attacked this year with aspirations of being one of the city's top teams and appearing in a sectional title game. 

The Redskins are one victory away from that coveted trip to a sectional final. The tournament drawing granted Anderson a first-round bye, and they will play either Oak Hills (11) or Southwest Ohio Conference champion Little Miami (16-6) next Thursday, Feb. 21 at Lakota East High School, searching for their first playoff win since Feb. 2015. 

"Both Oak Hills and Little Miami are well-coached teams,"Sheldon said. "They've got good, balanced squads that shoot the ball well and they're smart basketball players so it's going to be a challenge. You get to the tournament it's about defense and rebounding. It's simple."