BY JEFF FALK

 LEBANON – They’re a great many things, to a great many people.

 At their most fundamental, timeouts are breaks in the action, chances to reset the play. For us spectators, they’re an opportunity to seek liquid refreshment, remind oursleves of the score or visit comfort facilities.

 But to the participants – coaches, players and officials – timeouts are essential elements, as much a part of the game as the action itself. Employed properly, timeouts can change the course of games, provide immediate and first-hand learning opportunites and even influence outcomes.

 Friday night’s Reading at Lebanon non-league contest, won 53-40 by the visiting Red Knights, was a unqiue event, but also offered many of the same qualities that every other girls’ baskeball game ever played before has. It also provided the perfect back-drop for the timeout game that exists within every game.

 “They can be teaching moments,” said Lebanon head coach Jaime Walborn of timeouts. “Especially with this group, because we’re so young. I’ll take them (timeouts) because they (her players) don’t know the game well, and I can sort of explain things to them.

 “I don’t really go into a game with a plan for my timeouts,” continued Walborn. “My style is more reactionary.”

 In high school basketball, each side starts the game with five timeouts – three full, or 60-second, timeouts and two 30-second timeouts. As a general rule, scholastic coaches like to sort of spread out their timeouts and usually try to ‘save’ them for the second half or crucial moments down the stretch.

 But timeouts are very situational, and can be taken for physical, mental, emotional and strategical reasons.

 On this particular evening, Walborn used four of her five timeouts. She called two 30s in the first half and two full timeouts in the fourth quarter.

  “I’ll try to spread them out, depending upon the score,” said Walborn. “I’ll think more about them in the second half. I want to keep three for the second half, if I can. But it depends on the score at halftime.”

 Walborn called her first timeout of the evening 1:37 into the second quarter, with Reading up 24-15 and on a run. To a degree the move worked and seemed to stem the Red Knights’ tide.

 Walborn called Lebanon’s second timeout with 1:48 left in the half, when it appeared the Cedars were about to commit a ball-handling turnover. Lebanon kept possession of the ball and she was able to calm her troops down in the huddle in front of the bench.

 “I don’t remember all the timeouts I took,” said Walborn. “But I remember the first one in the first half, when they (the Red Knights) were making a run. Sometimes I’ll call a timeout when the pace of the game is getting to us, just to calm them (her players down).

 “We tell them (her players) all the time, ‘If you’re in trouble, you can take a timeout,'” continued Walborn. “And my kids have. They know to take it only when they’re in trouble.”

 The Cedars’ two second-half timeouts were both called with less than 2:05 remaining in the contest, with Reading up 51-38 and the result in hand. The purpose of the first one seemed to be for adjustments and strategy, while the second was apparently used for coaching.

 Most sports employ the use of timeouts, but every one deploys them differently. In extereme cases in basketball, timeouts are used to dispute calls made by officials.

 “I’ll take them if I know the kids need a break,” said Walborn. “I like to take them when our kids are on the free throw line, to give them a breather. But you’ve got to use them the right way. Sometimes we’ll talk about the game plan or what we need to do in certain situations.”

 With Friday night’s outcome, rebuilding Lebanon’s overall record slipped to 3-15 overall. Destiny Infante dropped in 19 Cedar points, while teammate Giahny Correa contributed 13.

 After Reading enjoyed a 31-25 cushion at the break, it outscored the Cedars 12-5 in the third quarter.

  “I thought we competed well,” said Walborn. “That’s a good team we played. We played really hard. We attacked the basket. And we stuck with the game plan.

 “You can’t look at our record to measure our success,” continued Walborn. “We played at least six or seven games this season I’d call ‘close’ games. I’d call this one a close game, because it was never really out of our reach. Sometimes on the floor, we’ve got a bunch of underclassmen. We’ve been in some close games that were tough, and we’re getting better.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2018-19 Lebanon Girls’ Basketball Results