Monday, November 16, 2015

JH Girls Outwork, Outlast Jefferson

Worth County outworked and outlasted Jefferson in a 39-26 victory last Tuesday, keeping their unbeaten season alive in the second of back to back games. Jefferson has been known for its hardcore, defensive, physical style of ball over the last 10 years, one that a lot of teams have been intimidated by. But Worth County went toe to toe against Jefferson in a game that started off as a tight defensive struggle. But then Anna Gladstone went coast to coast against the Eagles with 3:55 left in the first to open the floodgates for the Tigers. They used a suffocating full court defense and strong offensive rebounding – trademarks that Jefferson teams have had over the years – to build up an 8-4 lead after one quarter. Another trait that Jefferson has – balanced scoring – was used by Worth County as well; four different players scored two points each in the frame.

The Tigers then rode Kaylee McElvain’s back the rest of the way; she had seven in the second as they got the lead into double digits. She was posting up at will and scoring against the taller Eagle defenders; Anna Gladstone added a pair of free throws, schooling the taller Ashley Mattson and sending her to the bench with three fouls in the process; Regan Allee scored off a Gladstone backdoor pass, and Regan Allee hit Kristin New and Gladstone in transition late in the frame to give Worth County a 22-9 halftime lead. Eagle skipper Tyler Peterson was so mortified that he kept his team in the lockerroom for the whole half.

Jefferson finally began doing a better job of breaking Worth County’s press in the second half, chipping away until they cut it to nine in the fourth. But then Jill Hardy hit a couple of pullups and Kaylee McElvain continued to be a force inside, getting the final six points as Worth County thwarted the Eagle rally.

The B team game was more of the same as Worth County’s girls outworked and outhustled Jefferson to a 10-0 victory. Allison Larison had 6 and Morgan Beagle and Nevada Hoff had 2 each.

The boys were not so lucky as they let an early 7-4 lead slip away as they fell to Jefferson 39-28 for their second loss of the year. Jaxon Anderson had 13 to lead the Tigers. Ethan Thomas had 5, Hayden Holmes 4, Tanner Parman 4, and Zayne Swope 2.

Both Tiger teams won at St. Gregory’s. The girls won 30-18; they were behind 12-10 after one quarter, but only allowed 6 points the rest of the way. The boys won 38-19 as they scored the first 12 points of the game and never looked back.

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