Jamisyn Stinson helps Sheridan finish at Classic in the Country
BERLIN, Ohio - The motto for Sheridan girls basketball this season has been 'finish.'
Jamisyn Stinson did just that at the end of the first half on Saturday in a 54-42 win over Fort Loramie at the Classic in the Country, as she looked at the clock, dribbled for a few seconds, and then heaved a right-handed 25-footer that found nothing but the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded to end the second quarter.
"There's about eight seconds left and we ran the ball screen play," Stinson said. "I tried to go left and it wasn't there. I came back to the right and knew I had to get a shot off so I just tried to get around the girl, chucked it up there and I made it."
The 5-foot-11 North Florida commit had no doubt the ball was going in.
"As soon as I let it go, I knew it was in," Stinson said.
Stinson also started the game with a 3-pointer, her first of three she hit from deep int he first quarter alone. Her hot start was something she had been missing at times this season.
"I have always played pretty well at this gym," Stinson said. "I've been kind of off on my shooting this year and it just feels good to be in here and getting shots up and making them."
One of the improvements Stinson has made coming into this year is her movement off ball screens. Knowing the attention is always going to be on her, she needed to find a way to get open to get the ball in her hands. It was something that was on full display Saturday, with most of her six 3-pointers coming off ball screens.
"(Jamison) was being better today at being physical because they were really face guarding her after she got hot," Sheridan head coach JD Walters said. "She did a better job reading her screens and our girls did a better job screening for her than in the past few games."
Being face guarded is nothing new for Stinson. But she has just had to try to keep her composure and not get out of the game mentally, which is where her movement off the ball has come into play.
"A lot of teams will face guard her," Walters said. "And so we've got to still try to find ways to get touches for her. Obviously the teams that know us best are going to try to take her away and so that's something that's been a focus at practice because sometimes when you're face guarded you could just stand more and get frustrated which has happened in the past sometimes. She's as a senior hopefully maturing and getting beyond that."
It wasn't just on the offensive end that Stinson made a difference against Fort Loramie, however. With 1:30 left in the fourth quarter and Sheridan leading 46-42, she blocked a shot on the defensive end which led to two free throws for the Generals at the other end.
"We've been really focusing on defense this year," Stinson said. "We've been playing great defense all season and just finishing out the game as though we wanted to do it and that's our motto."
Stinson finished the game with 20 points and six rebounds.
"She's not afraid to be here, she's fearless," Walters said. "Honestly, she's somebody that's not going to shy away from the big moment."
She also doesn't shy away from showing emotion on the court, something her coach also does on the sideline. But don't blame him for her temperament. It's the opposite of her sister Faith, who graduated last year.
"She was like that before she got to me," Walters joked. "She was always fiery. Her sister was the calmer one. She's the more fiery one, I guess if that's the word you want to use. She's the more firecracker one for sure. Her sister is the older, calmer influence."
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
(Feature image by Ben Jackson, SBLive Sports)
