Sports
Alexander’s Full-Court Press Stymies Meigs
By: Zahara Pruitt
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The Lady Marauders and the Lady Spartans took to the court for a rematch Thursday night, but the outcome was the same. Alexander defeated Meigs by a final score of 43-34. The last time these two teams played each other, Alexander crushed Meigs, 69-41.
The Alexander girls hosted Meigs for a successful Senior Night. The Lady Spartans had four seniors lead their team. Those girls are Carrie Nostrant, Kat Weaver, Marilyn Rankin and Chandra Wilson.
Despite Alexander not having school today, morale in the stadium was strong. There was an energetic student section and many other adoring fans there to cheer on the Lady Spartans, seeing as this was their last conference home game.
Meigs was the first to gain possession, winning the tip and playing impressive defense in the first few minutes of the game. The Lady Spartans were the first to score with a 3-pointer at the 4:11 mark.
By the end of the first quarter, there were a total of 16 turnovers from both teams (nine from Meigs and seven from Alexander). Turnovers were something that both teams continued to struggle with throughout the remainder of the game.
A main reason that the Lady Spartans were able to pull off the win is that they capitalized on the opportunities that the turnovers created, while the Lady Marauders did not.
In addition to Alexander’s indisputable full court press, Meigs also lacked execution. When they did put up points, it was due to well-planned plays. There were numerous occasions in which Meigs was able to grab offensive rebounds, but they simply could not put the ball in the hoop.
During the second quarter, Freshman Lady Marauder Bre Colburn fell to the floor with an apparent leg injury. She was able to limp off of the court with assistance, but never returned to the game.
The Lady Spartans outscored the Lady Marauders 2-to-1 in the first half, 20-10. Of Alexander’s 20 points, 12 of them were scored from threes.
The game really picked up in intensity with the start of the third quarter.
Meigs Coach Amber Ridenour commented on the intensity change.
“We knew if we didn’t play physical like Alexander, we were gonna get blown out of the water,” Ridenour said.
Meigs displayed this physicality in the second half when they began hustling much more and even narrowed the Lady Spartans’ lead to four points at one point in the fourth quarter.
Both teams played offensively during the third quarter, with Alexander scoring an additional 12 points and Meigs scoring an additional 11. They played hard back and forth for each point.
Alexander’s top scorer of the night was Leah Richardson with 18 points.
While Kelsey Hudson was Meigs’ leading scorer of the night with 11 points and 3 assists, Brook Andrus stepped up and showed how valuable of a player she was. She tied with Sadie Fox to be the next top scorer with six points. However, her points are not representative of her effort.
Throughout the second half, Andrus played very aggressively and hustled harder than any other Lady Marauder, even picking up a few fouls towards the end of the game in an attempt to save her team.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Marauders were able to catch up to the Lady Spartans. They achieved this due to Alexander’s loss of control, which resulted in 20 turnovers for the night.
Despite Meigs’ attempt to gain the lead, they started to play a bit sloppy, giving Alexander many opportunities to shoot from the line. From the line, Wilson made 2-of-2, Richardson made 7-of-11, and Mohler made 3-of-4. This gave Alexander the push they needed to secure their 43-34 win for the night.
Despite the loss, Ridenour was pleased with the girls’ performance. Meigs Coach Ridenour attributed the girls narrow loss to them “finally playing four quarters,” “They played hard for 32 minutes.”
The Alexander Lady Spartans advance to 5-4 in the TVC-Ohio and host Minford this Saturday, Feb. 1.
The Meigs Lady Marauders are now 0-9 in the TVC-Ohio and host Gallia on Saturday.