Massillon Christian

February 10, 2011

Central Christian 59

Massillon Christian 50

The Lady Comets knocked off the 12-3 Lady Chargers of Massillon Christian with a relentless defensive pressure which forced numerous turnovers; our defense dictated the tempo and simply wore down the opponent. It was great to see the intense play and effort of the team. With the win we up our record to 8-10.

Fittingly, it was Senior Night, our four seniors had significant roles in the win: Jana scored a season high 26 – knocking down 4 treys, Kelly played a very steady floor game with 12 points, Amanda led in rebounding with 6 and helped set the tone in our defensive game plan, and, Malesa had two triples on the way to 8 points and she garnered 5 offensive caroms. It was a fun night for the seniors, the team and the school! It was rewarding for the team to have a nice turnout of fans who enthusiastically cheered us on – thanks.

Quarter scoring: 7-11, 19-8, 20-15 and 16-13. A run of 5 TO’s in seven possessions late in the first quarter along with given up several easy scores in transition had us down at the end of the first. In the second our full court defensive effort forced twelve turnovers and we ended the first half with a 12-2 run giving us a 26-19 halftime lead. We extended the lead in the third leading at one point 44-26 before the Lady Chargers showed their record is no fluke as they closed with an 8-2 run. The final quarter we held them off and sealed the win.

Our shooting continues to show improvement; we finished 24/64, 38%, including a sizzling 37%, 7/19, on 3’s.  From the line we were a disappointing 4/11, 36%.  (MC out-scored us from the line 14-4.)  We had 19 turnovers and a whopping 20 steals; however, we were outrebounded 27-21 as we simply are not getting a body on people while the shot is in the air.

Jana led in scoring with 26, including 4/5 on threes and played a very steady floor game. Kelly effectively led the team in executing our offense while scoring 12 points and dishing out 4 assists. As stated above, Amanda and Malesa led us in rebounding. It was rewarding to have a team-first enthusiastic bench.

Saturday we face a Mansfield Christian team who has always given us fits; we’ll have to continue to increase the intensity and joy level of playing as we strive to play competitively.