Sports
Lady Marauders Use Depth to Power Past Lady Lancers
By: Andrew Hohman
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Early in the season, Meigs coach Scott Cleland said all 13 girls on his team could be considered a starter.
That isn’t as true anymore – but in a good way.
A near triple-double from Kassidy Betzing, 23 points by Madison Fields and great team defense lifted Meigs to a 61-46 victory over the Lady Lancers.
“It’s all of them contributing 10 seconds, 10 minutes, 30 minutes,” Cleland said. “It’s all of them doing their job and understanding what it is.”
Betzing and Fields are two girls emerging to be leaders on the court for the Lady Marauders. The duo have developed their chemistry for some time.
“We play ball together all year,” Betzing said. “So it’s really starting to come together.” The chemistry led to over-20-point nights for both girls.
Fields scored 23 points and shot four-for-eight from behind the arc, many of those points were assisted by Betzing.
Betzing finished with 8 assists on the night to go along with her 24 points and 11 steals. She led the Lady Marauders’ defensive charge. Her on-ball defending forced the Lady Lancers to make bad decisions and turn the ball over.
Overall, Meigs forced 15 turnovers. The extra offensive opportunities were much needed. Destiny Tabler countered the great Meigs defense to keep the Lady Lancers in the game.
Tabler had four steals of her own; six of her nine rebounds were on the offensive end. Tabler took advantage of those extra chances, too. She knocked down contested shots to finish with a game-high 25 points. She was the only Lady Lancer to match Meigs’ intensity for all 32 minutes.
No other Federal Hocking player scored more than four points. Its lack of depth was the deciding factor against Meigs.
Despite a 15-point difference in the end, the game was tightly contested throughout. It was just a four-point game entering the fourth quarter.
Though Meigs doesn’t have “13 starters” like Cleland said earlier in the season, Danielle Morris had six rebounds and Ali Hatfield scored 10 points. Every player contributed for the Lady Marauders.
Its depth and allowance to give players more rest helped them to pull away in the final quarter as Lady Lancers’ fouls sent Meigs players to the line to seal the victory.
Meigs hosts Point Pleseant on Thursday, while Federal Hocking travels to Eastern, hoping to snap a nine-game losing streak.