Sports
Girls Basketball: Athens Dominates Alexander for Ninth Straight Victory
< < Back to girls-basketball-athens-dominates-alexander-ninth-straight-victory-0The Athens Lady Bulldogs trampled the Alexander Spartans tonight 60-33 clinching their ninth straight win.
The Bulldogs still remain on top of the TVC-Ohio with a record of (14-5) (8-1) while Alexander is still fighting to come out of last at (2-17) (2-7).
Athens head coach Wayne Horsley started all five seniors, who have been playing together for 10 years, in honor of Senior Night and they came out playing hard making a statement for their last home game outscoring Alexander 22-4 in the first quarter.
“I enjoy this senior class,” said Coach Horsley. “They’ve been very special to me. They came out and they had fun. They ran the floor well, they played well together and it was a real joy to watch them.”
One senior whose presence will be missed, especially, is 6’1” forward Elena Lein. On her second of three blocks of the game, the arena burst out in applause to celebrate her 400th career block. This swat gave her the title of the fifth highest number of blocks of all time in Ohio girls’ basketball in all divisions.
“It’s been a real pleasure coaching her,” said coach about Lein. “We’ve really enjoyed it and she’s allowed us to do some special things. We can take chances and we can gamble a little bit because we’ve always got her in the paint. She’s a game-changer for us inside.”
Lein also put up eight points and seven rebounds against the Spartans. Not too far ahead of her were teammates Eliza Christensen with 13 points and two rebounds and Dominique Doseck with ten points, one rebound and six steals.
Five of Doseck’s six steals came in the first half to combine with Gracie Staten’s seven, totaling eleven steals.
Ten of Athens’ twelve players that stepped on the court tonight scored at least once, showing their dominance over Alexander.
The Bulldogs high pressure, height advantage, tight man-to-man defense, suffocating double-teaming and full court press caused the Spartans to turn the ball over 23 times.
Spartans junior leader Kaylee Koker was able to put up 11 points, four rebounds and three assists while Marilyn Rankin pulled through with 10 points and two rebounds. Freshman Allyson Malone helped out with eight points, three rebounds and three assists but it wasn’t enough against the beastly Bulldogs.
The Spartans final regular season game is this Thursday at Nelsonville-York while the Bulldogs take on Wellston.