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AMANDA - The
Logan Elm Lady Braves combined a strong first half with a ball control
second half to beat Amanda-Clearcreek 41-32 in the regular season closer
for both teams.
“We played real well in the first half, but it seemed like a lid was on
the basket in the second” said Lady Braves Coach Donna Peters. “But we
settled down, worked the ball around the perimeter and ran the clock.”
The Lady Braves jumped off to a quick start with two quick
under-the-basket goals by Lyenya Riddle.
Amanda¹s Ashley
Saunders picked up a loose ball and scored with 4:42 remaining the the
first period to break the scoring ice for the Lady Aces. But Andrea
Anderson answered with a short shot and Riddle converted a half-court
steal into a layup with 3:51 remaining to build the LE lead to 8-2.
Emily Meyer
answered with a free throw for the Lady Aces and Courtney Reynolds
scored on an in-bounds play to shave the margin to 8-5 with 1:44
remaining.
But Alicia
Nichols scored an easy basket on a LE in-bounds play and Amanda McDaniel
followed with a free throw before Saunders connected on a three-point
goal with 32.8 seconds remaining in the period.
McDaniel scored
again for LE on another in-bounds play with 7.8 seconds remaining, and
Amanda¹s Jennifer Goodman shot a buzzer beater to cut the LE lead to
13-10.
Both team traded
baskets to open the second period. But the in-your-face defense of the
Lady Braves began to frustrate the Lady Aces, who were forced to move
Saunders from under the basket to the perimeter thanks to the strong
defensive play of Katie Hupp.
Immediate
beneficiary was LE’s Alex Welch, who scored two quick rebound baskets.
Reynolds scored on a steal and layup with 4:35 left in the half, but the
Lady Braves bounced back with a run of eight straight points to build a
commanding 27-14 lead with 1:36 remaining. After both teams traded
baskets in the final minute of the half, LE finished the first two
periods on top 29-17.
Both teams scored only six points each in a scrappy third period, and
the Lady Aces outscored LE 9-6 in the fourth quarter.
“Logan Elm played
hard and aggressive early and took us out of a lot of stuff we wanted to
do,” said A-C Coach Butch Kobel. “They were extremely more aggressive
than we were, went after all the loose balls and controlled the boards.”
Riddle and Anderson, two of the Lady Brave seniors, paced Logan Elm
with eight points each, Mallory Rittinger scored six, McDaniel (the
other senior) scored five, Welch, Hupp and Lacey Elliott scored four
each and Nichols closed out the scoring with a basket.
The Lady Braves
netted 18 field goals in the game and were five of nine from the foul
line.
A-C’s Reynolds
was high scored in the game with nine points including a three-pointer
while Saunders, the lone Lady Aces senior, finished with seven including
a three. Megan Meyers scored eight, Sam Stevens and Meyer scored three
each and Jennifer Goodman scored a basket.
The Lady Aces
converted on 13 shots from the floor including two three pointers, but
were only four of 14 from the charity stripe.
“A key for us was
the effectiveness of our switching defense, which we’ve been working on
for some time,” said Peters. “We’re finally starting to come together as
a team.”
Next up for the
Lady Braves, who closed the regular season 9-11 and 7-7 in the Mid-State
League, is a first round tournament game Wednesday against Waverly, who
has a squad of three-point shooters and a dominating post player. The
game will be played in Adena.
The Lady Aces,
who finished the regular season 7-13 and 3-11 in the Mid-State League,
travel Thursday to Delaware for a first round game against Columbus
School for Girls.
“Tonight’s game
was a good tune-up for us,” said Kobel, who described CSG as a very
aggressive team with three players over 6-feet tall and the leading
three-point shooter in the district.
The Lady Aces
bested the Lady Braves 30-26 in the JV game, winning in the first
overtime.
Cara Thaxton
paced A-C with 11 points, Emma Delong and Megan Forquer scored six each,
and McKensie Smith added five.
Alicia Salyers
scored eight for Logan Elm, Dakota Vansickle had five, and Janie
Waidelich, Thomas and Oberly scored four each. |
