News Sentiel 11/24/99
Manchester 83 Southwood 59
Squire 'D' Steps Up In Win Over Southwood
By Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Writer
NORTH MANCHESTER – Manchester’s girls basketball players weren’t astronauts walking on the moon Tuesday night in a 83-59 win over Three Rivers Conference rival Southwood, but rather a team taking small steps and then a giant leap.
After both teams went 0-2 in their respective first games, Manchester coach Keri Nichols said this was without a doubt her team’s biggest leap.
“Definately,” she said. “We talked about it in the locker room. We were making baby steps and this was by far our biggest step. Now we can move on to the next step.”
The biggest step for the Squires in their 24-point, first win of the season was their defense.
Manchester’s pressure defense –Nichols calls it the “T-trap” –forced the Knights to turn the ball over 29 times. The Squires were victim to just 15 turnovers.
“When we run we expect to have turnovers,” said Nichols. “We call it organized chaos. Only 12 or 13 turnovers is great. We’d been averaging 20. When we start working on our pass fakes we can cut down the turnovers.”
Said Southwood coach Rod Cole: “We have a plan to play against the press, it’s hard to tell at times. We need to prove we can beat the press. That’s one of our immediate goals.”
Manchester junior forward Jessica Hicks led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and a 4-of-4 performance at the free throw line. She also tallied eight rebounds and three steals.
“We expect that out of Hicks,” said Nichols. “How many times was she double- or triple-teamed and still made a nice move?”
Ann Harms added 15 points and six caroms in the win.
“Ann has been maturing. She’s only a sophomore,” said Nichols. “It’s coming from all of her hard work. We’re not worried about her getting points, she can get rebounds.”
Junior Brooke McKee led the Knights in the scoring column with 14 points on a 5-of-5 effort from the floor. She also made good on 4 of 9 free throws and snared five rebounds. Senior Hayley Bozarth and 6-foot freshman Denae Gibson each added 11 points in the loss.
“This was only Gibson’s third varsity game,” said Cole. “She caught some difficult passes. She showed a lot of improvement over last weekend even.”
Harms scored the game’s first two points, giving the Squires a lead the never relinquished. After one quarter of play Manchester led 20-13.
In the second quarter Jennifer Jester capped off an 11-point run with a three-pointer, giving Manchester a 36-20 lead. The Squires led 44-28 at the half.
Manchester kept its advantage near 20 throughout the majority of the final frame. The fourth quarter was Southwood’s highest offensive output. Manchester only outscored the Knights 23-19 in the fourth quarter.
Not only was this Manchester’s first win of the season, but the Squires are now 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference.
“Before we came out we talked about how this was not only a big county game, but a big conference game too,” said Nichols. “We wanted to come out and set the tone.”
Said Cole of the conference race: “It’ll be tough. We only have one home conference game. I wouldn’t say a conference title is out of the question, but we certainly put ourselves behind the eight ball.”
Manchester (1-2, 1-0) will host county rival Wabash at 6 p.m. Saturday with no junior varsity contest. The Manchester boys varsity team will host Wabash after the girls game.
MANCHESTER 83, SOUTHWOOD 59
Southwood (0-3) 13 15 12 19 – 59
Manchester (1-2) 20 24 16 23 – 83
Southwood FG FT S R A Pts
Gibson (C) 5-6 1-2 0 5 0 11
Kellam (F) 1-3 0-0 1 3 0 2
Bozarth (F) 3-6 5-6 0 5 0 11
Keith (G) 4-6 0-0 1 4 0 8
McKee (G) 5-5 4-9 1 5 1 14
Byerly 0-6 0-2 3 3 0 0
McPherson 2-5 1-1 0 2 0 5
Dale 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
Smith 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0
Bowman 0-3 0-2 1 1 1 0
Cly 4-7 0-0 0 2 0 8
Totals 24-47 11-24 7 36 2 59
Manchester FG FT S R A Pts.
C. White (C) 2-6 3-3 1 1 0 7
Hicks (F) 10-15 4-4 3 8 1 24
Harms (F) 7-9 1-6 1 6 0 15
Terflinger (G) 6-10 0-0 1 0 2 12
Jester (G) 4-13 3-4 3 1 8 14
Markstahler 2-8 0-0 1 4 3 4
Brubaker 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Bungitak 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0
E. White 1-1 0-0 1 0 2 2
Speicher 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 5
Totals 34-67 11-17 11 24 17 83#
Three-pointers – Manchester 4 (Jester 3, Speicher 1). Turnovers – Southwood 29, Manchester 15. Fouls – Southwood 13, Manchester 15. Fouled out – none.
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