Lady Beavers avenge loss to Longhorns

By Rod Haxton, editor

Coming off a disappointing 1-2 weekend in the Orange and Black Classic, the Scott Community High School girls were in need of a win to regain their confidence and re-establish themselves as a team not to be overlooked in sub-state play.

They took a big step on both counts with an impressive 58-49 win over Holcomb on the home floor Tuesday.

The win avenged a 55-49 loss to the Lady Longhorns in the finals of the Scott City In-

vitational Tournament. More importantly, it could give the SCHS girls a much needed boost to the second half of their season.

“The girls are starting to believe in what coach (Ranae) Baker and I are telling them. We worked hard on executing the things we didn’t do well on Saturday (against Colby) and it showed,” says head coach Mark Campos.

Perhaps the key for Scott City was their ability to shut down 5-11 pivot Breanna Gottschalk, limiting her to just nine points - seven at the charity stripe. Justine Woofter, Amanda Shearmire and Emily Hess took turns in shutting down Holcomb’s leading scorer.

“The girls did a great job of isolating her defensively and keeping her from becoming a factor on offense,” Campos says. “We were able to turn it into a four-on-four game.”

The Lady Beavers (7-5) were also able to put together one of their most consistent performances on offense.

Leading 8-5 midway into the opening period, they scored seven unanswered points, capped by Jade Glunz’s three-point play that put SCHS on top, 15-5.

The Lady Beavers never allowed their lead to shrink to less than four points the rest of the night. They kept the offensive pressure on Holcomb, building a 39-22 lead following a basket by Carissa Chelemedos with 5:27 left in the third quarter.

Holcomb did make a run at the Lady Beavers, cutting a 17 point deficit to just four points, 47-43, with 3:59 to play in the game following back-to-back three-point plays. SCHS tried to take the air out of the ball to start the fourth quarter and the strategy nearly backfired.

Campos says they weren’t in a delay game, but the wing players didn’t see the opportunity for backdoor cuts in their weave offense.

“The girls need to recognize that when someone is overplaying them on defense they need to cut to the basket for backdoor shots. If we’d have taken advantage of those opportunities Holcomb wouldn’t have climbed back into the game,” Campos says.

Once the Lady Longhorns had pulled to within four points, Audrey Baker hit a pair of free throws which started a 9-1 scoring run and stole Holcomb’s momentum. Emily Hess, who came off the bench to score a team high 13 points, connected on three free throws that put the game well beyond reach at 56-44.

“Emily continues to do a lot of good things for us at both ends of the floor. She’s doing a very good job on defense and we’re getting more consistent play from her on offense,” Campos says.

While she’s playing primarily at the post this season, Hess is getting some playing time at the wing, particularly in JV games, to take advantage of her offensive quickness. Against Holcomb she also contributed three assists, two rebounds and two steals.

Chelemedos was in double figures with 11 points and nine rebounds while Shearmire added 11 points and three steals. Woofter finished with nine points and eight boards.