GIRLS BASKETBALL: Still in search of a win
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports Editor
JEFFERSON – Roland-Story’s full-court press flustered a short-handed Greene County girls’ basketball squad still in search of their first win of the year, as the Rams’ fell, 61-33 to the Norse Tuesday, Dec. 6 at home.
A tight first quarter and a late second-quarter surge found Greene County (0-5) trailing by seven at the half (26-19), but constant pressure from Roland-Story forced the Rams’ into a hole they never could dig out of.
The Norse outscored the Rams 35-14 in the second half, including a fourth quarter in which they held Greene County to just four points. It was Greene County’s fifth straight loss to open the season, a game which started to unravel in the second quarter when Roland-Story deployed their full-court press.
Playing without two of their most vital players (Laurin Lyons, out with a concussion, and forward Onica Delp, who sat out with an illness), the Greene County girls’ basketball team failed to parlay Kenna Marquardt’s 15 points into a victory, eight of which came in the first quarter. The junior stepped up in a big way, trying to fill the void left by Lyons, who led the team in scoring last season.
“Kenna played really well. She came out and played like she’s capable of,” Lyons said. “She looked possessed. We talked a couple of games ago, as we did with the whole team – we are going to start giving it instead of taking it. And she took it upon herself.
On the other hand, I thought Taylor Wessling did a great job at the point all night. She did a good job running the show.”
The Roland-Story press broke out in the second quarter, holding the Rams to just two points over the opening five minutes of the period and just seven all quarter. The Norse flocked to each Ram ball-handler, forcing several turnovers for easy transition buckets.
Thanks to the relentless defense, Roland-Story opened a 13-2 scoring run to take control of the game, extending their advantage to 26-14 midway through the second.
“Their press wore us down and you could see that. I thought we did a pretty good decent job a majority of the time breaking it,” Lyons said. “There were a couple times where we got helter-skelter. We are getting there, but we are not a good enough team to break it and come back with a shot to make and get them out of the press.
The press probably won the game for them, no doubt.
Long scoring droughts were a common theme all night, as Marquardt proved to be the only Ram offensive option at times. The Rams’ went the first three minutes of the game without a single point before stringing together an 8-4 run to pull within a point of Roland-Story. The second quarter drought ended with two minutes to play in the half as the Rams put together a 5-0 run to enter the locker room down just seven.
Back-to-back threes to start the second half helped Roland-Story rip off a 13-2 run, extending their lead to 39-21 with three and a half minutes left in the third quarter. GC put together a short 6-0 run of their own, but couldn’t muster much more as the Norse took a 47-29 lead into the fourth quarter. The 18-point deficit was too much to over come at that point with a shortened bench.
Despite the ‘L’ in the loss column, Greene County head coach Dean Lyons was pleased with the commitment he saw from his girls to let the game get out of hand early on.
“The effort was great tonight,” the coach said. “I thought they worked really hard being down a couple players. The score does not dictate how the game went. The last few minutes, we had some subs in and it got out of control.
I think the effort was there and we ran out of gas. They hit some threes. I’m happy overall, I really am.”
The Rams hit the road Thursday to take on the 1-3 Southeast Valley Jaguars in Gowrie. Lyons expects his roster to be back at full strength for the non-conference matchup, which includes Laurin Lyons and Delp.
“We’ve had a different lineup every game so far. If we get everybody back, I think you’re going to see that we are getting better,” Coach Lyons said. “We have three opponents that I think we are more than capable of beating.”
The Jaguars will bring defensive pressure, just like several of Greene County’s previous opponents.
“They are going to press us, but if I think if we can break the press and we start making some of the easy shots that we usually make – and we will doing a little pressing ourselves,” Lyons said. “If we do all that, I think you’re going to see a victory.”
The Rams then are back home Friday to take on HOIC opponent, Saydel. The Eagles got their first victory of the year over South Hamilton Tuesday, in a low-scoring affair, 29-28. Saydel is averaging just 22.3 points on the year.
Friday’s tip is set for 6 p.m. inside the Greene County middle school gym in Jefferson.
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