Neuqua Valley strolls past Elgin
Despite leading by 10 points, 30-20 at halftime, Neuqua Valley assistant girls basketball coach Dave Brouwer told his players at intermission a better effort was needed during the final 16 minutes of play.
The Wildcats certainly heeded Brouwer's words of wisdom.
Outscoring Elgin 24-4 in a dominant third quarter performance, Neuqua Valley was able to stroll to a 60-44 win over the Maroons in an Upstate Eight Conference tilt in Elgin Friday night.
"We were very sloppy in the first half," said Brouwer, who replaced head coach Mike Williams for the night as Williams was home with the flu. "We tried to stay positive at halftime and we told them to play to their strengths in the third quarter and we did. We have had second half meltdowns this year so it was nice to see our young team step up."
The Wildcats stepped on the accelerator immediately in the third quarter.
After a Kayla Jackson layup sliced Neuqua Valley's lead to 30-22, the Wildcats reeled off 9 straight points to take a 39-22 lead. A pair of layups by Becky Williford and a 3-pointer from Danielle Davis ignited a crucial run by Neuqua Valley.
Elgin (5-17, 2-6) broke a 3-minute scoreless drought on a putback by Ellen Holton to make the score 39-24 with 4:11 left in the third quarter. Holton's basket would be the last points the Maroons would score in the quarter.
Turning up the heat on defense with a full-court press, the Wildcats took total control of the game by scoring the final 15 points of the quarter.
Making 6-of-8 shots for 75 percent during that stretch, Neuqua Valley doubled a 15-point lead to 54-24 after 24 minutes. Davis scored 7 points during the run and had 10 points in the quarter for Neuqua Valley. Elgin was 0-for-9 from the field and committed 7 turnovers during the final 4:11 of the quarter.
"I stressed at halftime we had to play better defense in the second half and we didn't," said Elgin coach Angie Hudson. "We stood up too much on defense and they got a lot of easy shots."
Davis led the Wildcats with 15 points. Holton led the Maroons with 14. Caris Allen scored 13 and Jackson 10.