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Trying to find openings in the Bears defense was difficult.
Offenses on lockdown as EV edges Bravettes
Jan. 29, 2010
NORTH ENGLISH - Two defenses locked in and a pair of offenses got locked out.
English Valleys held off a late charge by Montezuma and beat the Bravettes 23-20 Friday night. And, no, wait . . it was a better game than that score might make it sound.
At times.
Teams that were matched pretty well physically just simply stifled each other.
The Bears got a little hurried at times on offense and missed shots.
The Bravettes remained patient, for the most part, but had a season's worth of rim shots that rolled around and fell off.
And there were times when both teams threw up some bricks and clangers.
Like from the free throw line, where the teams were a combined four-for-25. That's 16 (sixteen) percent. And that included an 0-for-nine effort by the Bravettes.
They also threw the ball out out bounds and to members of the opposing team. The Bears made 22 turnovers and Montezuma made 20.
They helped each other do that . . .with pressure . . . at times.
English Valleys employed a quick 2-3 zone that kept the ball away from Montezuma post player Emily Long while maintaining some heat on wing guard Brittany Bryan. They're Montezuma's season scoring leaders and they didn't put up a single point in the first half.
Montezuma shot 25 percent from the field on the night (nine-for-36).
"English Valleys was able to throw a couple different defensive looks at us that we had a hard time adjusting to," said Montezuma coach Keith Sietstra. "We were able to remain patient for the most part, but we did not shoot well and we had way too many turnovers for us to be successful on the road this time of year."
English Valleys held Montezuma to 11 points through three quarters. Earlier this week, the Bears scored an impressive 41-27 win over a strong Sigourney team, giving evidence that veteran English Valleys coach Brian O'Neill has found a formula that works for his girls.
The Bravettes actually were sitting on seven points worth of offense until the final minute of the third quarter, when Bryan scored her first basket, and was followed a few seconds later by a baseline jumper by Hilary Iverson.
Long wound up scoreless on the night and Bryan managed just four. Iverson put the Bravettes on her back and came pretty close to carrying them across the line.
Iverson and Bryan had back-to-back buckets again in the fourth quarter, cutting English Valleys' lead to 20-15 with 5:13 left to play.
Iverson connected again to make it 20-18 with 3:52 left, then tied it with a steal and breakaway layup with 1:30 left.
Bears Emily Warnick, Leah Mast and Kelsie Holeton all made one of two from the line to give the Bears a 23-20 lead in the closing seconds.
In between, the Bravettes turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions.
Montezuma had it back, though, with 5.8 seconds left, needing a three to tie. The Bravettes inbounded and called time near midcourt with three seconds left.
Montezuma ran Bryan out from behind a screen. But the Bears saw her coming and got some pressure on her off-balance trey attempt from the right side. It hit the front of the rim and bounced off.
"I was proud of the way the girls fought back from a 20-11 deficit to be within one and have four or five possessions with a chance to take the lead," Sietstra said. "Unfortunately, all of those possessions were empty."
"We were slow out of the chute again with our intensity and that is something we will look to improve on."
Iverson finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Bravettes, who are 6-10 in league play and 7-10 overall.
Jordan Higgins and Warwick each scored six and Holeton had five for the 5-12 Bears.
WATCH IT! - at 1 and 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday on Local Channel 3, with Keith Brake and Marisa Lageveen bringing home the action.
NEXT UP - The Bravettes are at North Mahaska on Saturday night in a make-up game.
Score by quarters
Montezuma 2 5 4 9 - 20
English Valleys 4 8 6 5 - 23
Montezuma (20) - Hilary Iverson 5, 0-0, 3, 12. Brittany Bryan 2, 0-0, 1, 4. Alexis Ferguson 0, 0-0, 0, 0. Hope Kriegel 1, 0-6, 4, 2. Shannon Sutfin 0, 0-2, 0, 0. Courtney Latcham 1, 0-1, 3, 2. Emily Cashman 0, 0-0, 0, 0. Emily Long 0, 0-0, 4, 0. TOTALS - 9, 0-9, 15, 20.
English Valleys (23) - Leah Mast 0, 1-2, 0, 1. Desta Rank 0, 0-0, 0, 0. Kinsey Buckley 1, 0-1, 2, 2. Jordan Higgins 3, 0-4, 4, 6. Emily Warwick 2, 2-5, 3, 6. Kelsie Holeton 2, 1-2, 2, 5. Courtney Mast 1, 0-2, 0, 3. Nichole Gent 0, 0-0, 1, 0. TOTALS - 9, 4-16, 12, 23.
Three-point goals - Montezuma 2 (Iverson 2). English Valleys 1 (C. Mast 1).
Fouled out - none.
Turnovers - Montezuma 20, English Valleys 22.
Rebound leaders - Iverson 7, Kriegel 5, Latcham 4.
Montezuma's defense was stifling, too.
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