|
Ashley White (45) of Boyle County drives past West Jessamine defender Ashlee Rose on her way to the basket during the fourth quarter of Boyle's 73-55 victory Friday. (Clay Jackson / December 16, 2012) |
Things have been going pretty well for the Boyle County girls this season, but never better than in the second quarter Friday night.
The Rebels did seemingly everything right during that eight-minute stretch, forcing one turnover after another and making West Jessamine pay for seemingly every mistake as they set the stage for a 73-35 victory.
After a first quarter in which their high intensity level worked against them, they settled down while still managing to stay on top of their game defensively, and they outscored the Colts 31-10.
“The second quarter was probably one of our better quarters we’ve played. We scored 31 in the second quarter tonight, so you can’t ask for much more than that,” Boyle coach Greg Edwards said.
Boyle (6-1) forced 10 turnovers in the second period and scored after six of them. They hit 12 of 18 shots from the field — 11 of the field goals were layups — without a turnover of their own.
“They just finally realized that we weren’t playing very good defense tonight, and they just started taking it to us and didn’t let up until after halftime,” West Jessamine coach Steve Greene said.
West Jessamine (2-3) had managed to stay close in the first quarter, but the Rebels outscored the Colts 17-2 over the final four minutes of the second quarter to take a 47-21 halftime lead.
Edwards said the difference between the two periods was simply a matter of settling down.
“We got off to a slow start offensively. Our defense was fine, we were picking up our defense, getting steals, and then we weren’t converting them on the other end, so we just had to calm down and make shots,” he said.
Hannah Harris scored eight points and Chelsea Gill added seven in the second quarter for Boyle. They finished with 19 and 11 points, respectively, and Marlee Smith also had 11 points for the Rebels, who have won six straight games since a season-opening loss to Southwestern.
The Rebels forced 28 turnovers in all as West Jessamine struggled to get through their full-court pressure.
However, the Rebels didn’t take advantage of the opportunities they created with their defense in the first quarter. They missed 10 straight shots after Smith scored the first basket of the game, and West Jessamine held the lead on two occasions.
Boyle finished 6 for 22 in the period, missing time after time from close range, often three or four times on the same trip.
“It was a lack of concentration, over-anxious, getting steals and wanting to score and not taking their time,” Edwards said. “Our defense was excellent. Our full-court pressure was good, and even in the half-court we were active.”
Edwards said the Rebels played well on defense through much of the first three weeks of the season.
“The last four or five games we’ve picked it up defensively, and we’re playing now the way we need to play, so hopefully that’ll carry over to the rest of the year,” he said.
West Jessamine went without a basket for the last 3:55 of the first half and the first 1:32 of the second half as Boyle stretched its lead to 55-21, and the Rebels led by as many as 40 points in the fourth quarter.
They shot 41 percent from the field with only nine turnovers, and they outrebounded West Jessamine 39-27, getting six boards from Gill, five from Shelby Bishop and four each from Smith and Hannah Johnson.
West Jessamine shot 36 percent but had 22 fewer attempts from the field.
Ashlee Rose led the Colts with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Shelby Hawkins and Hannah Parsons added six points each.
West Jessamine 11 21 27 35
Boyle County 16 47 62 73
WEST JESSAMINE (2-3) — Shelby Hawkins 6, Ashlee Rose 16, Emma Baxter 2, Katelyn Quillen 2, Rachel Monell 1, Hannah Parsons 6, Ashley Pope 2.
BOYLE (6-1) — Dee Foster 2, Cammi Holton 5, Hannah Harris 19, Chelsea Gill 11, Marlee Smith 11, Emmie Harris 5, Lauren Richards 4, Shelby Bishop 7, Ashley White 4.
