South Splits Over Holidays.
J. C. Tilton
The Lady Panthers journeyed to New Lebanon for the Dixie Holiday Tournament. Opening night ended in exciting fashion as South played Northridge in the first round, but the second game was anti-climatic as South took out their frustrations on the Stivers Tigers.
South's Jennifer Bambeck provided the scoring in the first quarter against Northridge. Scoring all 8 of the teams points. In the second quarter Megan Newland stepped up with several break away layups off of steals. South actually had a 5 point lead at one point. But Northridge had a late surge and garnered a slim 2 point lead at half time.
South tried a variety of tactics against the taller Northridge team. They varied their half court defense going from zone to man to man, and threw a press at them several times during the game. Each time they got a momentary advantage, but Northridge would adjust. With South pushing on defense, they accumulated fouls which sent Northridge to the foul line in the second half. They hit enough to stretch out their lead in the fourth quarter. With their backs against the wall as the clock wound down, South called on their seniors to step up. Kali DuChemin sunk an NBA three point shot with less than 10 seconds on the clock. South got possession of the ball and Jennifer Bambeck nailed another trey to pull South within two points. With 2 seconds on the clock South tried a desperation inbound and half court shot that fell wide. The Panthers fell short 38-36.
The Panthers redeemed themselves the following night with a convincing 62-11 win over Stivers. They held the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter. On both nights the leading scorer was Megan Newland with scores of 12 and 20 points. Coach Robinson was asked for comment after the disappointing Northridge loss. “We've had a bunch of sick kids - I'm not using that as an excuse. But it looked like that tonight, I thought we lacked energy, we certainly lacked stamina. But that's not an excuse, we played without intensity. With the exception of that second quarter when Megan Newland hit some break away shots, we were content to just settle back down. We gave up on the block, we gave up on drives to the basket, we gave up baseline. That's just not acceptable. Our shooting percentage was horrid tonight. Even when we got it inside we wouldn't shoot it.”
Next she was asked about Megan Newland, “She had a great first half and ran the floor well. She took the ball to the hole well even in a half court set.” Finally she was asked about the two seniors, Jennifer Bambeck and Kali Duchemin, and their last second shots. “I just wish that they would shoot more. They are both kind of streak shooters. When they do get hot, they can put it in.” Comments email: Chris Tilton
|