In the first quarter of Saturday’s Firelands Conference game at St. Paul, the New London girls basketball team played as good of an eight-minute stretch as it has in seven games.
“And it was a good thing we did,” New London head coach Eric Mitchell said.
The Wildcats shot 9-of-18 in the first quarter and limited the Flyers to just 1-of-6 shot attempts. They held an 11-2 edge in rebounds and forced five turnovers in jumping out to a 19-2 lead after one quarter.
But from there, St. Paul was able to stay with NL over the final three quarters. The Wildcats outscored them 22-16 the rest of the way in a 41-8 win inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium in Norwalk.
“I was very pleased with the way we started, but we got sloppy, and we’re leaving too many point-blank shots out there on the court,” Mitchell said. “We have to finish, and we’ll have to do that against some of the better teams we play.
“And that’s nothing against St. Paul, but we’re going to have to finish around the rim in some of our bigger games the rest of the way,” he added. “We took some possessions off on defense, and they took advantage of it.”
The Flyers (4-3, 2-1) actually opened the scoring on a basket by freshman Raeleigh Friend. But over the next six-plus minutes, NL went on a 19-0 scoring run to take control of the game.
Senior Gracie Thomas (5-foot-11) started things off with consecutive baskets, then senior wing Valery Henry made a 3-pointer. Thomas scored again down low less than a minute later, and when Olivia Yetter scored on consecutive short jumpers, it was a 13-2 lead with 2:08 left in the first quarter, and Steve Frazee called a timeout to try and slow things down.
“We can’t come out sluggish or slow for a Saturday afternoon game against this team,” Frazee said. “They are so well-coached and have been together for so long.”
Addison Yetter continued the run with a basket, then Henry scored twice in a row in a 25-second span around a St. Paul turnover to push the lead to 19-2 with 34.1 seconds left in the first quarter.
“I knew we were going to have a size advantage with Gracie and (6-1) Pailee (Wilson),” Mitchell said. “We wanted to play inside out. Our guards were to throw it in the post, then relocate and have their hands ready to shoot. Gracie and Pailee share the ball really well, and sometimes I think they share a little too much when they have an opportunity in there.
“But I thought the way we shared it early on and found shooters was very good.”
Defensively, NL balanced a zone and full-court pressure to limit St. Paul to six shot attempts and five turnovers in the quarter.
“We guarded better and mixed it up between man and zone and kept them out of sorts,” Mitchell said. “Our full-court that we went to about two minutes in, we did good things there.
“But when we pulled out of it, my girls were still fouling 90 feet away from the basket. So I think the early pressure set the tone and allowed them to have some time and knock shots down.”
After Morgan Endsley snapped a seven-plus-minute scoring drought for St. Paul, Addison Yetter scored for the ‘Cats, followed by a 3-pointer from Raeann Mitchell.
Down 24-5, St. Paul junior Annie Friend made a foul shot and rebounded her miss of the second attempt and scored near the rim for an unconventional three-point play at the 2:27 mark.
Thomas closed the first-half scoring with another basket in the paint for a 26-8 halftime lead.
NL then outscored the Flyers by a 15-10 margin in the second half.
“We told the girls at halftime there was no way to combat their size,” Frazee said. “We can’t grow, and they’re not going to get any shorter. But at the same time, you have to fight back. Our energy after the first quarter was good.
“We did a nice job of responding, even though we couldn’t make a basket,” he added. “It’s very difficult to score in the paint against them, but I was really happy the girls didn’t give up and played hard all the way through to the end.”
Thomas finished with 12 points and five rebounds for New London. Henry also had 12 points and four rebounds, while Olivia Yetter had six points and six rebounds.
After hosting Buckeye Central (3-3) on Tuesday, the Wildcats — winners of 31 straight FC games — have a stretch against Plymouth (0-6, 0-3), Monroeville (2-4, 1-2), and South Central (3-2, 1-2) before a big game against Mapleton (6-0, 2-0) on Jan. 3.
“Sometimes we got a little careless on offense, and on defense, I get it, we play six girls,” Mitchell said. “But it’s not an excuse. Later on, our passes, cuts, and screens got lazy.
“We just kind of coasted to a win instead of trying to stay sharp the whole way through.”
Endsley scored six points for the Flyers, who are entering a difficult stretch after surpassing last season’s win total both overall and in the FC after just six games.
St. Paul hosts Tiffin Calvert (1-1) on Wednesday before games at Mapleton on Dec. 19, vs. Western Reserve (2-4, 1-2) on Dec. 23, followed by non-league games at Danbury and vs. Vermilion.
“There are some things I saw we need to work on,” Frazee said. “I thought our offensive movement was very bad today. We’re making cuts, and if they’re using their size, then we need to use our speed. But we weren’t doing that.
“But again, New London is a very good team. We just wanted to compete with them, and after the first quarter, we did. We have to come in focused and stay healthy and forget about this one after we watch the film.”
NEW LONDON (5-2, 2-0)
Raeann Mitchell 1-1—4; Addison Yetter 2-0—4; Valery Henry 5-1—12; Olivia Yetter 2-2—6; Pailee Wilson 1-1—3; Gracie Thomas... Click here to read full article
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