Worth County’s girls fell once again to North Andrew, this time by 20 at 66-46. The Tigers have struggled in the third quarters of many of their games this year and they struggled again Monday night in the first round of the Stanberry Tournament.
The Tigers did way too much hacking and fouling in the early going as they had too many players in foul trouble. Transition defense was another problem as there were six instances where nobody got back on defense and North Andrew got an uncontested layup. Through much of the year, Worth County has done better at breaking full court presses. But in the third quarter, they were reverting to their bad habit of panicking against the press; that turned a close game into a layup drill for North Andrew. The object of a press is to speed the other team up while the object of the team being pressed is to slow down and play under control. But Worth County was speeding up and playing right into North Andrew’s hands, which allowed them to put 66 points on the board.
Worth County dug themselves into a 23-12 hole after the first quarter as too much hacking and fouling and some defensive lapses were one of the causes. Kaitlyn Davidson had four to lead the Tigers along with Sidney Thummel, who was a force against the press. Kacey Smyser and Claire Andrews added putbacks for Worth County, who crashed the offensive boards well despite going up against two of the better post players in the area in Danielle Chambers and Brinsley Oliver.
Worth County had their most productive offensive quarter of the year in the second quarter, in which they scored 21 points. North Andrew helped them out as they got caught up in the hacking and fouling and repeatedly put Worth County on the line; by the five minute mark of the period, both teams were in the double bonus.
Kacey Smyser did all she could to help Worth County out in the period; she led the Tigers in the period with 12 points. Kristen Andrews played for most of the quarter as Coach Bryce Shafar gambled and left her in despite three fouls. She rebounded well and provided a lot of ball handling before she picked up her fourth with 1:15 left in the period. Haven Schottel had 5 in the period, getting a putback and some free throws. Claire Andrews and Rikki Hunt had 2 each. Little-used Tess Andrews earned some playing time as she showed that she was a solid defender.
Worth County opened the scoring by scoring the first eight points of the period to close within 23-20. They would close to one or two possessions, but then would have a bad pass or a missed boxout and North Andrew would pull back out in front.
The whole strategy of North Andrew was to run 12 players at Worth County and wear them down with their depth. That tactic paid off in the third quarter as their starters were fresh and were able to outwork the Tigers and score the first 12 points of the period to put the game away, leading 52-33 before Haven Schottel broke a six minute scoring drought with a free throw. Kaitlyn Davidson’s putback was the only other score for Worth County as the Cardinals continued to pull away to a 60-36 lead after three quarters.
Five different players scored for Worth County in the fourth quarter as they outplayed North Andrew in the period but were unable to get it under 20. Haven Schottel had a 3-pointer to lead the Tigers, bringing her to 9 for the night while Kaitlyn Davidson, Danielle Funk, and Claire Andrews had two each as Worth County was able to get on the line in the period. Kacey Smyser added one to bring her total up to 15 for the night to lead the Tigers.
Freshman Danielle Funk showed some potential for the reserves as she matched her career high with two points and had two tieups and a rejection. She is already one of the best defenders on the team; if she can develop an offensive game to match her defensive game, she will become quite a force in the next few years.
The Tigers also dropped a game to Gallatin Friday by 30 to open Grand River Conference play. The Tigers were able to put points on the board against the Bulldogs but had a bad first and third quarter in that game as well.
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