Cary-Grove stymies Antioch
Whether it was the half-court, the full court press or the stifling man-to-man, Cary-Grove totally stymied Antioch’s offensive flow.
Holding the Sequoits to 3 baskets and 10 first half points, the Trojans were able to cruise past the visitors from Antioch 50-31 in nonconference girls basketball action in Cary Wednesday night.
“Our defensive effort was outstanding especially in the first half,” said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. “This bunch of girls always plays hard at the defensive end. We did a great job of disrupting their offense. “
Antioch (0-6), which made only 3-of-15 shots for 20 percent, trailed the Trojans (3-2) 26-10 at halftime. Along with a smothering defensive effort during the first 16 minutes of play, Cary-Grove also did a good job of executing its offense. With Joslyn Nicholson pouring in 12 points, the Trojans connected on 11-of-19 shots from the floor for 58 percent in the first half.
Cary-Grove ensured there wouldn’t be an Antioch comeback by scoring the first 8 points of the second half.
A pair of baskets by freshman Katie Barker along with a basket apiece by Nicholson and Olivia Jakubicek, the Trojans were able to extend a 16-point first half lead to 24, 34-10, with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
Antioch, which committed 26 turnovers in the game, finally broke the second half scoring drought on a layup by Melanie Lass with 3:54 left in the third quarter to make the score 34-12.
The Trojans’ biggest lead of the game was 25, 45-20 after a layup basket from Jakubicek off a perfect feed from Nicholson with 4:55 left in the game.
“We had way too many turnovers and we had trouble against their pressure,” said Antioch coach Tim Borries. “Their man-to-man and their press was hard to handle. We had trouble running our sets. “
Nicholson led the Trojans with 14 points, 12 in the first half.
“We have different roles on this team this year and we are just getting used to those roles,” said Nicholson. “On defense, we want to distract the other team’s offense and we did a good job with that tonight. “
Jakubicek added 10 points for the winners while Barker scored 9 with a 3-pointer..
Antioch, which made only 10-of-40 shots for 25 percent, was led by Rachel Schwabe, Megan Borries, Sarah Huebner and Brittany Kelly with 5 points each.