Aliah Curry is headed for the 2,000-point milestone for her career. Norwich athletics photo

The Norwich women’s basketball team has been coached by Mark Zacher for the past six seasons (including this one) and has endured an inverse pattern of success.

In the 2009-10 season, Zacher’s first as head coach of the Norwich Cadets, the team posted a 20-8 record and was the Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament runner-up. From there, the Cadets progressively won fewer games — 16 in 2010-11, 11 in 2011-12, 10 in 2012-13 and then 15 wins last season. Yet, the Cadets have consistently showed well in the GNAC tournament, with two quarterfinals appearances in that five-year span and another runner-up appearance last year as an 8 seed. The Cadets became the first 8 seed in GNAC tournament history to reach the finals.

So Norwich’s midseason success, at 10-4, seems to be spurred by last year’s late run and a continuation of it.

Zacher, who was reached by phone on Monday, echoed that sentiment. “I think we have built upon the success we had at the end of last year,” Zacher said. “I think things began to click, and we began to realize, you know, that we can win important games. … Some of it was a growing experience in the system of play that we have.”

Norwich’s systems of play on offense and defense are a motion offense and a pack-line defense respectively. The principles governing these systems are pretty simple, Zacher said.

“We have a real, real simple philosophy of the game of basketball. My philosophy is the team that takes and makes the most layups and free throws will win. So, that’s what we want to do defensively. We want to take away layups and free throws. We want to take away opportunities for teams to score in the post, on penetration, with numerical advantages in transition.”

On the offensive end, Zacher wants to do the same thing but, of course, with opposite results — take and make as many layups and free throws as possible.

Limited statistics do and don’t bear the evidence of such a philosophy working or causing the effect of winning this season.

Offensively, Norwich is shooting 36.1 percent from the field, which doesn’t usually mean that a lot of high percentage shots are being taken, and attempting 19 3-pointers per game and making 26.5 percent of them. Then again, the Cadets are attempting around 22 free throws per game and sinking 73 percent, which would certainly support a propensity to drive the ball and put pressure on the defense.

And free throw shooting, not to mention nearly every other offensive skill or category, is the specialty of Norwich’s star player, Aliah Curry. The senior guard is shooting 83 percent from the line and averaging eight attempts per game. Curry is also the Cadets’ leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, the leading scorer in the GNAC, and third in NCAA Division III women’s basketball.

She’s good.

Curry notched her place in history Jan. 10 against Mount Ida by becoming the GNAC all-time career leader in points. She passed Lianna Carrero, of Albertus Magnus, who held the record at 1,905 points. Curry has 1,963 points currently and with 11 regular season games and the GNAC tournament to go, she will finish with far more.

Curry talked about what the historic mark meant to her.

“This one kind of hit me,” Curry said Monday. “It definitely shows what hard work can do. … I go out there every day and I play as hard as I can.

“All of the stuff that I’ve achieved has just been amazing. I mean, I never knew that it was in the cards. I didn’t know any of this was possible.”

The top-dog position is nothing new for Curry. A soft-spoken and humble woman and coach’s daughter, she has been Norwich’s leading scorer in each of her four seasons. As a freshman in 2011-12, Curry averaged 18.2 points, 22.9 as a sophomore and 22.2 as a junior.

Beyond her consistent success, she is most proud of the development in her game. The ways in which she has become an all-around scorer but with areas she still wants to improve.

“I definitely think I’ve progressed my game, through the years, by coming off the dribble,” Curry said. “I feel like that’s very comfortable for me. … Standing and shooting sometimes is actually hard for me, if that makes sense. … If I’m shooting in the flow of the game, it’s a lot easier for me to knock down a shot.”

While a consistent scorer who works hard and has a great attitude is a dream for every basketball coach at any level, a player who has those qualities and is the kid of a coach is even better.

Aliah Curry’s mom, Stephanie Curry, is an assistant girls basketball coach for Hoosac Valley High School in Cheshire, Mass. So she has been groomed but by a mother who happens to be a coach.

“I would definitely say she’s been my biggest fan, which has been great,” Aliah said. “She’s shown me support through everything. … It’s always great to have someone I can talk to about the game that knows the game. … She’s always been great — definitely my positive influence.”

The Cadets (10-4) have lost two in a row to Emmanuel (Jan. 17) and Suffolk (Jan. 19), both conference opponents, and their next game is against St. Joseph’s (Vt.) tonight.

There’s no doubt that Curry will come to play and lead her team, no matter the outcome, to a worthy end.

The Fisher king

The St. John Fisher Cardinals seem to be of cardinal importance this season in the Empire 8 conference. The Cardinals, 15 games into the season, are 13-2 overall and 6-0 in the E8.

Their only two losses came at the hands of Medaille in the second game of the season and SUNY Geneseo in the fourth game of the season. Since that loss to the Blue Knights, the Cardinals have won 11 straight, including a win over conference foe Alfred (10-5, 4-3 E8) by 31 points Tuesday.

These Cardinals have been led by sophomore forward-center Keegan Ryan, who is averaging 16.1 points per game, and senior guard-forward Optimystik Kinard at 11.8.

It also helps that SJFC is holding its opponents to 58.9 ppg on 38 percent shooting, while the Cardinals are shooting nearly 51 percent from the field.

Let’s see how these kings of the moment do in their next two conference games. Yes, they shall be against lesser opponents Houghton (5-9, 1-5) and Ithaca (6-8, 3-2), but those “easy” games can be traps for the newly anointed.

Plus, in all likelihood, the Cardinals will also have to deal with the glare of the Around the East-Northeast column, which seems to be looking their way.