The Dutch Fork girls basketball team has jumped to an 8-1 start under the watch of new head coach Candace Bush. The team has adapted to Bush’s system seamlessly and set its goal on something the program has not achieved in a decade.

Months with the team have allowed Bush to confidently say the Silver Foxes can compete for their first region championship since the 2013-14 season and maybe even a state championship in March. 

“Our first goal is to win the region. They’ve fallen short by only a small margin the last few years,” Bush said. “After that, I looked at the personnel and the girls, seeing the pieces that we have, we want to make a push for states. I feel like we can at least make it to the final four as long as we’re all on one page.”

The team is a long way from March but has started this year off right. Dutch Fork is averaging 70 points per game and allowing just 25 points per game. 

Dutch Fork has held its opponents to under 10 points three times this season, including a 95-0 win over Lamar in its first game. Bush puts extra focus on emphasizing team defense, and so far the Silver Foxes have listened.

The Silver Foxes’ defense utilizes a full-court press in most contests to build their leads and falls back into a regular half-court defense for the rest of the game. Bush said backing out of the press too early contributed to the team’s lone loss against A.C. Flora. 

“When it’s a pretty even game, we try to press the entire game,” Bush said. “I kind of feel like I made a mistake dropping back last night when we played A.C. Flora because we dropped back in the half-court after halftime. … That was more so because I could tell my girls were getting tired.”

These defensive principles came from Bush’s journey in basketball, not just as a coach but as a player. She played at Fairfield Central, and under the guidance of her coach, decided she wanted to become a coach herself one day. 

Bush enrolled at USC Upstate not to play basketball but to earn a degree in physical education. She returned to her alma mater for her first coaching job, serving as a volunteer assistant. Bush eventually moved into the JV coach role, while also serving as a coach on the track and volleyball teams. 

Bush left the coaching scene to pursue a master’s degree and eventually returned to youth sports, spending eight years as an athletic director at W.G. Sanders Middle School. She also served as the girls basketball coach for five years. In that span, the team went 58-13 and won three district championships.

Hall of Fame head coach Bobby Young retired from Columbia High School in 2020, and Bush took over the job. 

In three seasons, she led Columbia to a 25-32 record. The team posted a winning record in her final season, finishing 16-10. 

 Bush is facing a similar situation at Dutch Fork, as she takes over for longtime head coach Faye Norris, who retired after winning three state titles with the Silver Foxes. 

“Pressure, for me, I kind of consider it as a good thing because it makes me work harder and continue to learn as a coach, to grow,” Bush said. “If I came into a program where the expectations were not as high, then I feel like it wouldn’t push me.”

Seven games in, Bush is fulfilling those expectations. Dutch Fork has looked impressive and coaches around the state have noticed, ranking the team fourth in all of 5A in last week’s poll. 

The team has adapted to Bush’s system early to the team’s benefit. This was helped by Bush’s desire to connect with the team early and do it from the top down. 

“I spoke with the seniors first, because of course, you want to depend on their leadership, they’ve been there the longest,” Bush said.

Bush realized after speaking with the team and getting a glimpse of them on the court that she had a group that felt it could compete with the best teams in the state. 

“After speaking with them and realizing that they have a will and a want to win, I knew it would trickle down and it would come easier,” Bush said. “They just want to win. So when you have that, it’s easier to coach because now you don’t have to worry about coaching hustle and you can worry about the little things like the X’s and O’s.”

The team hasn’t had a perfect start to the year though. Aside from the loss to A.C. Flora, Bush said the Silver Foxes need to work on making easy buckets and running a better transition offense. 

“We missed about 20 layups and 10 free throws [against A.C. Flora],” Bush said. “That was the ball game right there. So that’s pretty much has been our downfall. The games that we won by a large margin, it didn’t matter, but we were still missing them.”

With everyone bought in, that shouldn’t be a major issue. Bush prides herself on forming relationships with her players so when problems like these arise, the team can band together and work through them. 

“It’s 10 percent of the X’s and O’s and 90 percent of building relationships,” Bush said. “When I first come in, I try to make sure that I’m building positive relationships with the kids because once you have a good rapport with them, you build a positive relationship. Then you’ll be able to pretty much get anything out of them that you want.”