Monday, Nov. 19, 2007
CGA defense stifles Lancers
By Ron Haramia
Pilot-News Correspondent
LAKEVILLE — Culver Girls Academy’s basketball coach Gary Christlieb felt his team needed to improve on finishing plays and worked his squad hard on that this past week in practice.
The payoff came Saturday night as the Lady Eagles not only finished most of their possessions with points, but did a great job of keeping LaVille from doing the same, winning 54-28 at Dale E. Cox Gymnasium.
“I was very happy with our defensive effort and that’s what we want to be our mainstay,” said Christlieb, whose team evened its season mark at 2-2 with the victory. “We weren’t executing with as much patience on offense as we wanted, but then we shot 60 percent in the second half.”
Providing most of the made buckets were freshman standout Kylee Shipley, who scored 19 points on an array of runners and layups, and junior point guard Katie Barnes, who scored a dozen of her 16 points in the second half to lead the CGA offense. The pair also led the team in rebounding with six apiece.
Senior post player Kylie Hermanson helped the Eagles stage a 17-8
first-quarter lead with all seven of her points, including the team’s
only 3 of the game.
Behind its full-court man pressure defense, CGA clamped down on the Lady Lancers’ offense in the second and third periods, allowing just two and seven points respectively to take a commanding 25-point lead heading into the final quarter.
“We try to extend our defense as much as we can,” added Christlieb, who saw his team hold LaVille to just 21 percent shooting from the field for the game. “I thought our defense was solid the whole night. It helped us establish the tempo we wanted to play at and it helped us neutralize their size, which was a concern coming into the game.”
To LaVille’s credit, the hosts never gave up and had its best output during the final eight minutes as Emily Fuller hit a 3, promising freshman Kaitlyn Kopetski had all four of her points, reserve Brittani Haygood hit 2-of-3 free throws, and Anna Boits added a bucket after scoring five of the team’s seven third-quarter tallies.
“Our kids work very hard,” said LaVille head coach Kevin McCullough. “We have been very competitive the past two or three games. (CGA) did a good job of pressuring the ball. All of our players played hard and Boits is someone who really gives us a boost in her role as sixth man.”
Although the team point total was low, seven players reached the scoring column for the Lancers (0-4), led by Boits’ seven. Kopetski led the team in rebounds with six.
CGA travels to Triton today, while LaVille’s next game is Tuesday at Elkhart Christian Academy.
• CULVER ACADEMY 54, LAVILLE 28
At Lakeville
CGA (54): Alexis Christlieb 0 0-0 0, Kiley Trennepohl 1 0-2 2, Katie Barnes 7 2-6 16, Angela Carlson 1 0-0 2, Jessica Shannon 1 0-0 2, Cassie Felton 3 0-0 6, Kylee Shipley 8 3-3 19, Katei Bradford 0 0-0 0, Anna Mahalak 0 0-0 0, Kylie Hermanson 2 2-4 7, Allison Rudolph 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 7-15 54.
LAVILLE (28): Emily Fuller 1 0-0 3, Marci Gurtner 2 1-6 5, Elaine Schmeltz 1 1-2 3, Brittani Haygood 0 2-3 2, Katlyn Bettcher 0 0-0 0, Anna Boits 2 2-2 7, Kaitlyn Kopetski 2 0-1 4, Allison Webb 0 0-0 0, Sarah Laidig 0 0-0 0, Hannah Amor 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 10 6-14 28.
Score by quarters
CGA 17 25 42 54
LV 8 10 17 28
3-point goals: CGA 1 (Hermanson), LV 2 (Fuller, Boits). Fouls (fouled out): CGA 15 (none), LV 13 (none).
Records: CGA 2-2, LV 0-4.
JV score: LaVille 24, CGA 23
Behind its full-court man pressure defense, CGA clamped down on the Lady Lancers’ offense in the second and third periods, allowing just two and seven points respectively to take a commanding 25-point lead heading into the final quarter.
“We try to extend our defense as much as we can,” added Christlieb, who saw his team hold LaVille to just 21 percent shooting from the field for the game. “I thought our defense was solid the whole night. It helped us establish the tempo we wanted to play at and it helped us neutralize their size, which was a concern coming into the game.”
To LaVille’s credit, the hosts never gave up and had its best output during the final eight minutes as Emily Fuller hit a 3, promising freshman Kaitlyn Kopetski had all four of her points, reserve Brittani Haygood hit 2-of-3 free throws, and Anna Boits added a bucket after scoring five of the team’s seven third-quarter tallies.
“Our kids work very hard,” said LaVille head coach Kevin McCullough. “We have been very competitive the past two or three games. (CGA) did a good job of pressuring the ball. All of our players played hard and Boits is someone who really gives us a boost in her role as sixth man.”
Although the team point total was low, seven players reached the scoring column for the Lancers (0-4), led by Boits’ seven. Kopetski led the team in rebounds with six.
CGA travels to Triton today, while LaVille’s next game is Tuesday at Elkhart Christian Academy.
• CULVER ACADEMY 54, LAVILLE 28
At Lakeville
CGA (54): Alexis Christlieb 0 0-0 0, Kiley Trennepohl 1 0-2 2, Katie Barnes 7 2-6 16, Angela Carlson 1 0-0 2, Jessica Shannon 1 0-0 2, Cassie Felton 3 0-0 6, Kylee Shipley 8 3-3 19, Katei Bradford 0 0-0 0, Anna Mahalak 0 0-0 0, Kylie Hermanson 2 2-4 7, Allison Rudolph 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 7-15 54.
LAVILLE (28): Emily Fuller 1 0-0 3, Marci Gurtner 2 1-6 5, Elaine Schmeltz 1 1-2 3, Brittani Haygood 0 2-3 2, Katlyn Bettcher 0 0-0 0, Anna Boits 2 2-2 7, Kaitlyn Kopetski 2 0-1 4, Allison Webb 0 0-0 0, Sarah Laidig 0 0-0 0, Hannah Amor 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 10 6-14 28.
Score by quarters
CGA 17 25 42 54
LV 8 10 17 28
3-point goals: CGA 1 (Hermanson), LV 2 (Fuller, Boits). Fouls (fouled out): CGA 15 (none), LV 13 (none).
Records: CGA 2-2, LV 0-4.
JV score: LaVille 24, CGA 23