A momentum-changing 3-pointer and a bad third quarter doomed the Tiger girls against Jefferson Tuesday as they fell 51-35. The Tigers had their chances, but they were not able to keep up with the Eagles.
The game started off as a low-scoring defensive struggle with very little scoring. The only points for Worth County came from an inside shot from Kacey Smyser and a fast break by Kaitlyn Davidson against the Jefferson press.
Jefferson went ahead 9-4 with 1:31 left, but then Kacey Smyser got a putback and then Haven Schottel hit a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie it up at 9. Jefferson did not have a lot of size, meaning that Worth County could get the ball into their post players. On the other hand, Worth County’s posts had to play a lot more on the ball defense than they were accustomed to.
The game stayed within one possession for most of the second quarter. The trouble started late in the first half when Jefferson had the ball and they were up 21-18, running down the clock for the last shot. Worth County relaxed too much on defense and didn’t get out and guard Sarah Kemper, allowing her to hit a momentum changing 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 24-18.
When the clock is winding down late in a quarter or a half, there is always the temptation to relax since the quarter is just about over. Former Northwest Men’s coach Steve Tappmeyer, who won over 400 games and guided the team to two elite eights, would constantly warn his players in practices against getting into a comfort zone.
Worth County was not patient enough on offense in the third quarter. Offensively, the quick hitters to the posts were there in the first half, but Jefferson closed that off in the second half. But Worth County failed to adjust and did not show enough patience on offense, looking for too many easy answers and forcing passes that were not there instead of running their plays all the way through. Consequently, Jefferson was able to raise their lead to nine at 29-20.
The second backbreaker came at the 4:27 mark in the period when Sidney Thummel picked up her fourth foul. It happened when Worth County was playing man to man and somebody forgot to match up on defense and she picked up a foul trying to prevent a layup. All it takes is one time of failing to match up and it could turn into a momentum changing play for the other team.
The Tigers are a much more effective team when Sidney is on the floor; not necessarily because of her scoring, but because of her energy and effort. She only scored two points, but she provided a lot of spark for the team. When she sat down, it seemed to demoralize the team, which promptly gave up a turnover on offense and a pair of easy baskets on defense and the lead grew to 35-20 for Jefferson.
Finally, Worth County settled down and played evenly with Jefferson for the rest of the game, but they could not get it under double digits. Kaitlyn Davidson broke the Jefferson run with a putback with 1:42 left in the third; Worth County scored a lot of second chance points thanks to their size advantage, allowing them to stay in the game for a while. Kaitlyn went on to score six more; Kacey Smyser hit a pair of free throws off a steal and Haven Schottel hit a shot from the left wing late.
Kaitlyn led the scoring with 12 points, followed by Kacey Smyser with 10. Haven Schottel followed with 5, Kristen Andrews had 3, Sydney Thummel had 2, Rebecca Moore had 2, and Claire Andrews had 1.
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