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Broncos make point to hit boards hard in win

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Written by Gene Morris

Friday, 05 March 2010 09:00

One concern for the Spring Hill girls’ basketball team coming into Monday’s Class 4A substate tournament quarterfinal was attempting to shut down Osawatomie on the boards, particularly six-foot freshman Tayler Soucie.

Spring Hill’s Rhi Lloyd draws contact from Osawatomie’s Janzen Maring as she goes up for a shot during Monday’s Class 4A substate tournament first-round game. Lloyd scored three points in Spring Hill’s 52-22 victory. (photo by Gene Morris)

That concern became a reality for Spring Hill in the game’s first five minutes.

Soucie was active in not only getting to the rim, but also saving a couple of possessions for Osawatomie by her hard work on the offensive glass. Such was also the case for sophomore Rebecca Fisher, who saved a near turnover for the Trojans and passed the ball to Kandice Firley for a basket. Osawatomie was just attacking the lane hard.

Having watched enough of Osawatomie’s activity on the boards, which allowed the Trojans to gain an early one-point lead, Spring Hill coach Clay Frigon called a time-out and brought up that subject to his squad.

“We were giving up way too many rebounds,” he said. “That was just something we wanted to make sure we focused in on. The girls responded.”
Did the Broncos ever.

Behind a concerted effort to not only shut down Osawatomie’s post players, but also pester the Trojan ball handlers with heavy pressure, Spring Hill proceeded to take control and went on to record a 52-22 home victory.

Osawatomie (7-14) took an early 7-6 lead on a Soucie free throw, but Spring Hill proceeded to switch to a press defense, and that caused the Trojans some problems. Ericka Simpson and Courtney Swope got their hands on a couple of steals, and that translated to baskets the other way for Spring Hill, who went on a 13-2 run to close out the first quarter for an 18-9 lead.

“We picked it up on defense, and that helped to spark our offense,” said Spring Hill senior Ashley Miller.

Hot shooting by the Broncos allowed them to gain that nine-point lead as they went eight of 13 (61.5 percent) from the field in the opening stanza, compared to just three of 14 (21.4 percent) for the Trojans.

“We were taking quick shots,” Osawatomie coach Don Blanchat said. “We were one pass and a shot. I told them that we wanted to control the tempo of the game. We wanted it to be at our tempo, a little bit slower, a little bit more deliberate. We got the shot off the fast break several times, but it wasn’t a high-percentage shot.”
Then the 3s came raining down for the Broncos.

Miller, who buried a trey to close out the first quarter, hit two more 3s in the second, and Spring Hill (14-7) went on to gain a 29-12 halftime advantage. She connected on four of the Broncos’ seven 3-pointers.

Miller scored 14 points, with four 3-pointers. Simpson added 13 points, Stacey Czereda eight, Swope, Kelsey Carbajo and Jami Hodge four each, Rhi Lloyd three and Mollie Ravnikar two.

Soucie led Osawatomie with nine points and 17 rebounds. Fisher registered five points, Firley four, and Jaimie Tucker and Britnie Wright two each. Janzen Maring suited up for the final time in her Osawatomie career.

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