[10/25/04]Porters Chapel’s first opponent of the 2004-05 basketball season just might be its toughest.

It has nothing to do with a lack of height, depth or skill. It’s just that the opponent knows all of the Lady Eagles’ strengths and weaknesses, how to exploit them, and every move its coach makes before he makes it.

PCA opens tonight at 5:30 against former coach Kevin Griffin and Central Hinds at the Rebul tournament. Griffin coached PCA for three seasons before leaving last spring. His best friend and former assistant, Mike Grzanich, now coaches the Lady Eagles.

“It’s going to be weird, because he pretty much taught me everything I know. He’s going to be in my hip pocket all night,” Grzanich said. “He knows our strengths and weaknesses. We’ve improved since last year, and I don’t think he knows that.”

Griffin said it would be stranger going against his former players than Grzanich. He took the job at Central Hinds to be closer to his home in Jackson, not because of any rift with PCA.

“I still love those girls as much as I have,” Griffin said. “You never want to go against them in competition.”

This will be the only time PCA and Central Hinds meet this season. Grzanich and Griffin tried to arrange two other games, but were unable to work it out because of the MPSA football playoffs and several scheduling conflicts.

That makes tonight’s game for all the marbles in the friendly rivalry assuming there were any marbles.

“We haven’t really talked about it. Just bragging rights,” Grzanich said when asked if the two had any friendly wagers on the game.

The game itself figures to be a typically slow, sloppy early-season game. Griffin said he’ll have three starters out of the lineup because of various illnesses. And whatever Central Hinds players are left will concentrate their defensive efforts on PCA’s Annie Beaugh.

The junior guard averaged 22.1 points per game last season, and Griffin knows the best way to slow her down is to throw double- and triple-teams at her. How well her PCA teammates pick up the scoring slack will determine the game’s outcome.

“I think Mike knows and Annie knows” about the defensive scheme, Griffin said. “There’s not any secrets. We’re going to try and stop her and see if there’s anybody that can score and take the pressure off her.”