Hardwood Heroes
Bulldogs overwhelm Marauders in 72-33 victory
By: Michael Elfers
Posted on:
POMEROY, Ohio (WOUB) – Last-place Meigs hosted Athens on Monday aspiring to pull off an incredible upset as Athens has been dominant all season. Asa Holcombe of Athens has been especially brilliant, her last outing against Meigs earlier in the season resulted in a Quadruple-double.
From the get-go Athens was in the driver’s seat, leading 22-10 after one quarter. Holcombe led the charge for the lady bulldogs with impressive quickness and hustle to spark multiple turnovers from the Lady Marauders. Athens’ offense set the tone early as it was firing from all cylinders throughout the game. Whether it was a Holcombe three, incredible ball movement that led to easy points within the paint, Meigs did not have an answer for the surging Lady Bulldogs.
The second quarter saw more dominance from the Lady Bulldogs. Athens continued to find ways to get buckets in bunches to the detriment of the Lady Marauders. Due to the offensive surge from Athens, Meigs looked impatient on the floor, chucking up substandard shots that resulted in Athens’ lead increasing even more. The home crowd was silent at halftime in Pomeroy as Athens led 48-18.
The third quarter saw much of the same in both ends. While the offense slowed down, Athens continued to increase their lead with help in the form of fast breaks and great court awareness to help find the open shooter.
Athens rested most of their starters in the fourth quarter as the game ended with Athens beating Meigs. 72-33. Despite the loss, Meigs sported some impressive performances on the night. Andrea Mahr led Meigs in scoring with 21 points on the night, shooting 4-6 from deep. Deleana Wright also contributed to the Marauders’ offense despite not contributing much on the scoreboard, showed immense basketball IQ, making stunning passes and grabbing many rebounds with five rebounds and six assists.
The game was defined by the remarkable performance of Holcombe. In only three quarters, the junior tore up Meigs on both ends with 28 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Coach Heath Hudson spoke on the tough to swallow loss.
“This is a part of life and growing up. You go to work one day, and you have a bad day, you must wake up the next day and go to work and you get better.”
Hudson also spoke on how pleased he was with the pick and roll game led by Wright and Mahr as he hopes they will build off the trivial things to continue to get better.
Meigs will host Marietta on Thursday looking to rebound from this defeat.