Sports

Lady Bucks Outlast Physical Lady Spartans


Posted on:

< < Back to lady-bucks-outlast-physical-lady-spartans

In a game full of physical play and turnovers, the Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes overcame the Alexander Lady Spartans on Alexander’s home floor.

A full team effort from Nelsonville-York, with four players scoring in double digit, paced the away team to a 71-41 victory.

Shelby True and Madison Davis lead their team as each recorded double-doubles for Nelsonville-York.

“They do a lot of good things for us as far as rebounds and points go,” Lady Buckeyes head coach Amanda Dalton said.

Early on in the first quarter, the Lady Spartans had their only lead of the game at 3-2 following a three-point play. Nelsonville-York’s senior center, True, answered with a score in the paint to give her team the lead for good. The Spartans kept the quarter close at 15-7, but failed to score with the game clock running down at the end of the quarter. 

A three-pointer by senior Kaylee Koker at the beginning of the second quarter brought Alexander within five points of the Buckeyes at 15-10. Following Koker’s three ball, the Lady Buckeyes went on a 16-2 scoring run and jumped ahead of the Spartans 31-12. The run forced Alexander head coach Scott Hinton to take a timeout to help slow down Nelsonville-York. Immediately after the timeout sophomore Allison Malone hit a three for Alexander, but it was not enough to stop the bleeding, as the score stood at 37-17 at half.

An uneasy moment occurred in the final two minutes of the half as Nelsonville-York’s star point guard Angela Meade hit the floor hard on a drive to the hoop. She left the game for the locker room, and was seen with an iced elbow at halftime. 

The Buckeye’s took the third quarter, outscoring the Spartans 18-8 to take a 55-25 lead. Junior guard Brooke Breeze had two steals in the quarter for Nelsonville-York. Her steals in the quarter were just a small contribution to the 18 total steals for the Buckeyes. Those steals played a large role in the 25 total turnovers for the Lady Spartans.

Meade fortunately returned for Nelsonville-York mid third quarter, and quickly made her presence known with a steal that resulted in a Buckeye bucket that put her team up 47-19.

The fourth quarter exhibited the physicality seen in tonight’s game. Freshman Kendall Meeks fouled out for the Spartans. Two Lady Buckeyes fouled out, including Jenna Addis. Alexander’s Reana Putnam took exception to Addis’s final foul, and received a technical foul in her frustration.  

“They played a lot like Zane Trace,” said Dalton regarding Alexander’s play. “They were going to be very physical. We knew the girls had to be ready on offense and put a lot of pressure on them on defense. I feel like my girls implemented that very well.”

With all the rough play in the fourth, both teams went to the charity stripe consistently.The Buckeyes shot just 57 percent and the Spartans shot 51 percent.

Junior Marilyn Rankin and Koker led the Spartans in scoring tonight with 11 and 10 points respectively. Madison Davis N-Y tonight in scoring with 15 points, and she included 11 rebounds.  True finished her night with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

True summed her night simply, saying, “I just boxed out, did the fundamental things right and it paid off.”

Cassidy Dupler and Meade rounded out the Buckeye’s balanced scoring with 11 and 13 points respectively.

Nelsonville-York travels to Glouster on December 12 to take on Trimble, and next for Alexander is Meigs on December 13.