For Poly Basketball Coach Kendall Peace-Able, 2015-16 Is Business As Usual

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Wick Eisenberg

 

Kendall Peace-Able is quick to tell anyone that it seems like time has flown by, and that it's tough to imagine she is entering her 14th year of coaching at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, her alma mater.

 

Throughout her time coaching the Poly girls' basketball team, she's seen a lot of different girls come through her program, so they'll have to forgive her for joking that this season's team doesn't seem different from any other.

"They're the same kids. They just come in different shoe sizes and heights," Peace-Able said with a laugh.

 

Indeed, there is a sense of business as usual surrounding Poly this season. But that isn't a bad thing.

 

The Engineers have won four straight Maryland Public Secondary School Athletics Association regional championships. Last season, the team also won the Baltimore City championship, its third in a row, and finished with a 23-3 record.

 

Despite all the team's success, an MPSSAA state championship has proved elusive for the Engineers during Peace-Able's tenure.  

"Last year, we fell a little bit short, making it to the final four but not going further," Peace-Able said. "To make it that many times with pretty much the same nucleus of people is a gift. Sometimes, you only get one shot at playing there, but to have that many consecutive opportunities is definitely special."

 

The team started this season with a 66-54 victory against Anacostia (Washington, D.C.) Dec. 4. The Engineers play highly touted catholic school St. Frances Academy Dec. 10.

 

A consistent part of Poly's dominance is its ability to replace talented graduates with girls who haven't had significant roles for the team yet.

Peace-Able said she's consistently graduated five or six key contributors every year since she has been the coach, only to have new players step in.

This year is no different. The Engineers graduated five players from last year's team, four of who were in the team's top six for minutes played. Peace-Able will look to replace their efforts with players like Jazmine Talley, Tylea Galloway and Deierra Weems, all of who have been on the team but have yet to play a significant role.

 

"That's the kind of place that Poly is," Peace-Able sais. "Sometimes, you have some talent overlap, and some of our players aren't in the forefront as sophomore or juniors. Something I have always noticed, though, is that when it is their time, they step up and accept the responsibility. They've been groomed for this, and now it's time."

 

Another aspect of Poly's strong run of success has been its emphasis on defense. Peace-Able was a defensive-minded player when she played at Poly and later at Lincoln University (Pa.). She said a team's offense comes from its defense, and if the team isn't scoring, it needs to make sure the other team isn't, either.

 

Poly is notorious for playing at a frenetic pace and forcing its opponents into turnovers, regardless of what style of defense the team is employing that day. Tension builds in the gym whenever the Engineers don't have the ball because most know a big play, and a quick score for Poly, could be seconds away.

 

Last year, Poly averaged 16.4 steals per game.

"I definitely enjoy the way we play, and this year, it won't change as far as pace," Talley said. "Since it's early in the season, we're still working on it, but we should be good there again."
 

Guard Khepera Stokes, who averaged 2.6 steals per game last year, agreed.

"The pace is pretty much the same," she said. "We may even try to speed it up a little bit this year, since I think we have quicker people now. It's fun. I enjoy playing aggressively and dictating what the other team will do."

After the tough test against St. Frances, Poly begins Baltimore City league play against Mervo Dec. 11. Most teams in sports have a couple different rivals they highlight on their schedule, but that's something Poly can't afford to do. Despite having traditional rivals like Western and Baltimore City College, Peace-Able has made sure her team is prepared to play at a high level every time, because the Engineers are sure to get their opposition's best.

 

"People give us their best shot, whether if they're an upper-echelon team or if they're a middle-of-the-road team," Peace-Able said. "Whoever comes to play us wants to play their best game against us -- it's always been that way. We respect our opponent regardless of who it is on that given day, but it isn't so much about who we're playing and more about what we have to do."