LEAVITTSBURG —
To say Pymatuning Valley’s defense was tenacious is probably an understatement.
It limited the LaBrae Vikings into 12 first half points, 18 turnovers, and held the Vikings to 11 field goal attempts en route to 69-42 victory.
“Always,” LaBrae coach Lisa Aldridge said in response to the Lakers’ defense. “They always are. They’re always aggressive. We came out and just had some bad passes early. They played a good defensive game. We tried to prepare for that but sometimes you can’t prepare for those things.”
Pymatuning Valley coach Jeff Compan felt his squad could exploit some of LaBrae’s shortcomings because of the Vikings (8-8, 2-5) having played a game on Saturday and because of some depth issues.
“I thought the first quarter, it was up-and-down,” he said. “We thought in the second quarter, we started to anticipate their passes and where they were breaking our press.”
Kelsea Brown (22 points) and Heather Brant (16 points) led the Lakers (16-2, 8-2) in scoring but were just as effective on the defensive end as they combined for 18 of Pymatuning Valley’s 29 steals as a team.
“We pride ourself on the ability to force turnovers and force quick shots,” Compan said. “At the beginning, we did a really nice job of forcing them into bad passes and quick shots.
“On the flip side, we weren’t very sharp turning them into hoops. We had a couple bad possessions where we were 2-on-1, 3-on-1 and didn’t get shots.”
The Lakers had no issues with getting off quality shot attempts, but were just at 48 percent shooting in the first half at 13 of 27 from the field.
“We really talked about that at half,” Compan said. “We came out in the second half defensively and were horrible. Then we kind of buckled back down and got some easy hoops, which is the key to our success.”
Ahead 30-12 at the break, the game seemed to be very much in hand, but the Vikings made it interesting if just for a bit going on a 10-4 run to close the gap at 34-22 before Geena Gabriel’s bucket woke the Lakers up and turned the game back into much of what the first half was with a 19-7 run to close the quarter and put the Lakers firmly in control, 53-22 at the end of three.
“We were in a zone in the first half,” Aldridge said. “We went to man-to-man in the third quarter and I think the difference in defense maybe set them back a little bit. Offensively, we could never get into the flow of things. Their defense didn’t allow us to get into any offensive sets.
“They were a better team tonight.”
Fortune is a freelance writer from McDonald.
Sports
PV pummels LaBrae
Lakers crank up pressure to whip Vikes
- Sports
-
-
Goal: Be a Pioneer... literally
Jefferson graduate Ariann Barile doesn’t have plans to rule the world — yet. She has, however, put herself on a path to accomplish that goal if she so decides, by choosing to attend Marietta College and play softball for the Pioneers in the fall.
-
A Don McCormack column: TD Club announces its Class of 2013
Paying a visit to the variety store...
-
Love of the game
Even though Roy Brashear was born two years before James “Farmer” Burns, it was the latter who beat the former in terms of becoming the first man born in the city of Ashtabula to reach the majors.
-
Help wanted...
Loyal Readers, I ask your assistance.
If anyone knows of relatives or information on the following individuals, please contact me at the email address that appears at the end of this brief: -
A Don McCormack column: Blashinsky very much in the game
Dave Blashinsky wears more than one hat, these days.
-
2013 North Coast Road Racing Grand Prix:
n July 4 — Ashtabula YMCA Firecracker 5K, 8:30 a.m., 263 W. Prospect, Ashtabula,
Director: John Bowler 997-5321 -
Farmer Burns — Ashtabula’s first major leaguer
Third of a series...
Two weeks ago today, one of the first man born in the city of Ashtabula to play in a Major League Baseball game celebrated his 137th birthday.
Then again, odds are, he wasn’t around to blow out the candles at such an age, but no one is sure.
For while we know James Joseph Burns was born on June 2, 1876 in Ashtabula, there is no record of his death.
Anywhere. -
Shootout returning ‘home’
The Westside Shootout is returning home.
-
Tribe lets one get away
It could have been an uplifting victory. Instead, it was a frustrating loss.
After having his at-bat prolonged by an error on a foul ball, Anthony Rendon took advantage by hitting his first major-league home run. -
Outdoors Insider, with Dale Sunderlin: It's a date!
The 2013-2014 Ohio hunting and trapping season dates have been released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
- More Sports Headlines
-
