Colwell’s Confidence Key In Win Over Smith Co

One glance at the end of the box score from DeKalb County’s win over Smith County would tell you that Emme Colwell scored a team-high 16 points and helped generate a solid offensive night for the Lady Tigers.

While most of that statement is true, the defense was the key to the team’s overtime win. The Lady Tigers struggled on offense in the first half, as they only put up four first-quarter points. According to Head Coach Danny Fish, Colwell shared in the team’s struggles.

“She started out 0 for her first 11 (shots),” Fish said. “She doesn’t usually do that, but there’s always games where shooters will (struggle). I believe that shooters shoot … for us to get in rhythm, she’s got to knock some shots down.”

That confidence that Fish instilled in her was key late in this game. DeKalb trailed by two in the fourth quarter, a position many younger players might shy away from.

Not Colwell. Despite missing so many shots early in the game, she remained confident in her ability to shoot and knocked down a crucial shot that helped send the game to overtime.

“There at the end of the game, we were down two points,” Fish said, describing the situation. “She finally gets a three-point ball to go in the fourth quarter to give us the lead by one. If she had stopped shooting earlier in the game, she wouldn’t have been able to shoot that shot and knock it down.”

Being the focal point of the offense is a challenge, and it’s made even greater when some of your teammates go down with foul trouble early. For a younger player, one might call it insurmountable. Colwell has been here before however, and Fish says that he will continue to run the offense through her.

“Emme’s a 1,000-point scorer for us here,” Fish said. “She’s the one that we are always going to work our shots through and work our offense through. She’s a senior, she’s been around for four years as a starter … we definitely feed Emme the ball and want the offense to go through her.”