Lady Beavers shut down Tigers in fourth quarter

SCHS junior Janessa Lowenthal takes the ball up against Ulysses' Amanda Langley during Friday's GWAC win.

By Rod Haxton, editor

On most nights, 27 percent shooting from the field isn’t going to earn a win. But it was more than good enough thanks to an outstanding defensive effort by the Scott Community High School girls.

The Lady Beavers limited Ulysses to just four second half field goals - and held them scoreless over the final six minutes, to escape the Tiger Pit with a 38-33 win in Great Western Activities Conference action.

Scott City’s defense has been outstanding, holding their last two opponents to under 28 percent shooting from the field in the last two games - both wins in the GWAC.

Normally, it’s the man-to-man pressure that has been Scott City’s strength, but the Lady Beavers made the switch to a 1-2-2 zone after falling behind 19-12 midway into the second period.

“Our focus was on (Kaylea) Britton,” says head coach Mark Campos. “Ulysses wants to get the ball inside to Britton and we wanted to deny her the ball at every opportunity.

“We’ll let other girls get shots, but we want to keep Britton from being the one who beats us. The girls worked their tails off to make it difficult for them to get the ball to the low post.”

And even when Ulysses was able to get the ball to their leading offensive threat she was ineffective, hitting just 4-of-19 from the field with three of those coming in the third period.

Trailing 22-16 at halftime, Campos decided to simplify their zone offense.

“Instead of having a lot of moving parts we told our girls in the low post this is your spot,” said the head coach.

Surprisingly, after collecting all 16 first half points in the low post or at the free throw line from Bailey Nickel and Janessa Lowenthal, the Lady Beavers added only two baskets from the low post in the second half.

The Lady Beavers (3-3, 2-1) climbed back into the game early in the third period, starting with a trey from Shanaya Hoeme. Lowenthal stepped out to the perimeter for a three-point basket that pulled SCHS to within a point, 25-24, and when Audrey Baker was fouled while attempting a three-point field goal she completed the comeback by making all three free throws to give SCHS a 27-26 lead with 3:11 left in the third period.

Britton scored a pair of baskets to close out the third period and extended their 7-2 scoring run into the fourth quarter when they owned a 33-29 lead.

Sophomore guard Kelly Wycoff drained a three-pointer at the 5:27 mark and followed with a free throw two minutes later that knotted the score at 33-33.

“We need for Kelly to look at taking more shots. This is the second game in a row that she’s hit a big three-pointer for us,” says Campos. “Hopefully, this is a sign that she’s starting to gain confidence in her shooting.”

Hoeme added a field goal that gave Scott City a 35-33 lead and the Lady Beavers added three free throws in the final 1:07 to nail down the win.

Nickel, who was 5-of-8 from the field, scored a career high 12 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Her first four field goals came on fastbreak opportunities as Scott City was able to beat Ulysses’ full-court pressure. Nickel had 10 points in the first half and added one more field goal early in the third period.

“For Bailey to score 11 points in the first half was big for us,” Campos says. “We weren’t getting much offense from the other girls in the first half, so it was up to Bailey to get us jump-started.”

Lowenthal added 11 points and eight rebounds.

However, the Lady Beavers continue to search for more scoring on the perimeter. Their guards combined for 3-of-24 from the field. While Baker was held scoreless from the field, she contributed 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals.

“We need to find ways to get more offense on a consistent basis from our girls on the perimeter,” added Campos.