By MIKE KEMMETER
Special to The Gazette
Former University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball coach Dick Bennett may have retired last week, but his style of defense is still around in Portage County.
Yes, Bennett's younger brother, Jack, now coaches the Pointers and is using many of Dick's philosophies. But the Rosholt High girls basketball team plays the "Bennett Ball" style of defense too and the team hopes that will help take the Hornets to their own version of the Final Four - the WIAA state tournament.
While that is a lofty goal, Rosholt's defense makes the team a top contender in the Central Wisconsin Conference small division and a team that could make some noise in the postseason.
Rosholt coach Greg Vosz said he's always liked Dick Bennett's style of defense since Vosz attended UW-SP games in the 1980s. He then brought the system to the high school in eastern Portage County.
"We use that style, his original one. I always paid attention to him, always," Vosz said. "Certainly when he was at Point. It was fun to watch."
His Rosholt team, which is off to a 5-0 start, seems to have a great time getting tough in it's half-court defense. "We work on that just about every practice. The kids really enjoy playing it, an aggressive man-to-man style," Vosz said. "They don't like to hear the word zone.
"It's nice to have a group that plays the aggressive style instead of one that just plays back."
Because the Hornets like playing defense so much, Vosz said, "it makes the practices real easy. You can spend a lot of time on defense.
"They work the hardest in practice when we work on defense. We've had situations where entire practices we've just worked on defense."
Rosholt's defense is giving the Hornets some momentum on the other side of the court too.
"We know if we play really tough defense it will help our offense," said Amy Scott, the team's leading scorer. "When we concentrate on defense that gets us pumped up. If we get steals and stuff, it gets us going on offense."
That was evidenced last Friday in the team's win over Port Edwards. "When we weren't running our half-court offense really well, we got some turnovers and easy baskets off of our half-court defense," Vosz said.
Once the Hornets get going on the offensive end, Rosholt likes to use its height to have its way in the middle. Scott, a senior, and Emily Steines, a junior, are the team's top two inside threats.
"We have a tall team. The kids have used it to their advantage," Vosz said. "They get the ball inside to Amy Scott and Emily Steines. It's been real effective for us."
Scott said in the conference, there's not many girls that can match up with her height. "They just lob it into me and then I just turn around and shoot. It's kind of easy to shoot over people," she said.
On both sides of the court, the Hornets don't seem to mind who makes the play, as long as the job is done.
"It's not an individual thing," Vosz said. "They're really unselfish. That really helps the team. They spend a lot of time together. They played a lot of ball together a lot during the summer."
The Hornets face their first big test Thursday, Dec. 7 at home against Iola-Scandinavia. The Thunderbirds are the defending conference champions and lost in the semifinals of the state tournament last year.
There's plenty of season to go after the early December showdown, but Scott said the team knows what it wants to accomplish. "We want to win conference and we want to make it to state this year," she said.
"We have to cut down our turnovers and play together. We have been doing that pretty well. We just have to pick it up another level and I think we'll be able to do that."