Sports
N-Y’s Second Half Defense Propels Lady Bucks Into District Play
By: Michael Somrak, Patrick Gifford
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In a very defensive game for Nelsonville-York, the Lady Buckeyes forced 29 turnovers in their 49-31 victory over the Meigs Lady Marauders Sunday afternoon at Athens High School.
With the game totaling five lead changes and three ties by halftime, and N-Y nursing a 20-18 lead, it seemed as if this game was going to be a grinder.
It was then that N-Y head coach Amanda Dalton decided to throw in the full-court press to her arsenal.
Nelsonville-York started off the second half forcing Meigs turnovers on their first five possessions.
Leading the defensive pressure were senior Jennah Addis and junior Madison Davis, who combined for seven of N-Y’s 15 total steals on the night.
Dalton had high praise for Addis stating, “Jennah did a spectacular job shutting down Kelsey Hudson and that really helped with our defensive play.”
Hudson finished off the night with 14 points, but had 9 turnovers for the Lady Marauders.
To start off the second half, senior Angela Meade of N-Y hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spread the difference to eight with N-Y in the lead and helped spark a 16-2 run in the third quarter for the Lady Buckeyes.
Meade finished off the night with 12 points and six assists. Davis added 14 points and seven rebounds in their winning effort.
During that 16-2 run, Meigs went scoreless until 1:50 left in the third quarter. In that six minutes of time elapsed, Meigs had 8 turnovers and only took 4 shots, missing all four before their only score in the third.
Nelsonville-York took 30 more shots than Meigs and had 21 less turnovers, only committing eight the whole game.
N-Y advances to the district semifinals of the OHSAA girls’ tournament, where they will face Lucasville Valley on Thursday Feb. 20.