South Central use dominant opening quarter to down Black River
SULLIVAN — Black River’s girls basketball team has learned the meaning of the word resilient. After beginning the season with 17 players but now dressing only nine, the Pirates used every bit of that learned resiliency when hosting a very solid South Central squad.
Falling behind 23-4 after the first quarter, the Pirates found enough moxie to outscore the Trojans in the second and fourth quarters. But it was not enough to fend off a 68-44 defeat.
“They put the full-court press on us early and when we do not have movement on the floor when going up against a press, you are going to lose the ball,” Black River coach Greg Vogelsong said. “My expectations are the same despite having just nine of the original players we had when the season began. But you have to look at who you have and who you are going against, and we only had three true varsity players on the floor and that is tough.”
South Central was paced early by the offensive talents of Kendyl Beverly, who knocked down a pair of triples and had 12 of her team-high 25 points in the opening period. And with teammate Grace Lamoreaux adding six points and seven rebounds in the first half alone, the Trojans cruised into intermission with a comfortable 34-14 lead.
More: Ashland Basketball Weekly: Ashland girls on a roll, top area contenders round into form
“We did start to break the press after multiple timeouts and getting to talk in the locker room at halftime,” Vogelsong said. “And I thought the girls did a good job of sticking with it. We threw some passes we shouldn’t throw, but they did much better as the game went along.”
Part of the Trojans' success was winning the rebounding battle 47-25. And 22 of those came on the offensive end, resulting in 21 second-chance points.
“We are a guard oriented team with those three seniors and we stress trying to compete on the boards,” South Central coach John Vogel said. “Grace has obviously been doing it the past couple of years and I can’t say enough about her athleticism and anticipation for getting the ball. We are just happy to get away with the win as I know Greg and Black River have suffered some terrible injuries."
Pirate Zoey Bungard was stellar all night for BR as she poured in a game-high 31 points, including four 3-pointers. After a two-point first quarter, she finished with quarters of seven, 13 and nine. She also had seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
“Try to not to let anyone get down on themselves and keep shooting,” Bungard said of how to stay focused when facing an early deficit. “Quitting is even worse, so you have to find a way to pull through it. My outside shot was pretty shaky at the beginning of the year, but it has come along.”
Morgan Kubitz had five points, three rebounds and three assists for Black River.
Angela Williams had 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists for South Central. Lamoreaux finished with nine points and 12 rebounds, while Beverly added four rebounds, four steals and three assists to her 25 points.
Lamoreaux talked about the huge rebounding advantage for her team.
“Coach really nails box out, box out, box out in practice every day,” she said. “That and crashing to the boards. I think that practicing that a ton and just hustling are the keys. Being physical is key too as sometimes you have to push and shove your way to the ball. Get in front of the girl and out-jump her.”
Vogel said despite more than a week with no game action, the 32 minutes went well.
“We have been off for nine days, so I was pretty happy with the way we came back,” Vogel said. “Sometimes when you are off that long, you can come out flat. But our energy was there tonight. We have a long stretch of really tough conference games coming up and we are just trying to get ourselves to play good basketball through that tough stretch.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: South Central's big first quarter key in win over Black River
