ORWELL — The Grand Valley Mustangs played an outstanding first half Thursday night at Grand Valley Gymnasium against the visiting Maplewood Rockets, hitting nearly half of their shots from the floor, playing aggressive defense to stifle just about everything the Rockets tried and generally making pests of themselves to anything the visitors tried.
One problem, though.
Basketball games consist of two halves, and whatever hit the Mustangs in their locker room virtually destroyed all they had accomplished in that first half, as they hit on zero (you read that right) of 23 tries from the floor, turned the ball over 20 times and looked totally confused as they dropped a 50-30 verdict. The Mustangs were leading, 24-20, at the half in the Northeastern Athletic Conference clash.
“I wish I knew what happened tonight in the second half,” a shocked Mustang coach Kim Triskett said. “We even came out of the locker room early for the second half so the momentum we had would stay fresh in our minds about what we had done. (Melissa) Sloan is a good player for Maplewood, but in the second half, we didn't stay between her and the basket or the ball to contain her, and she controlled everything for them.
“We had way too many unforced turnovers, we didn't get back on defense to stop their fast breaks, and we didn't attack the basket like we did in the first half.
“I have no idea what happened.”
In other words, yikes!
Sloan keyed the second-half surge for the Rockets with 15 of her game-high 24 points, four steals out of her total of six, and both of her assists. Her presence attacking the GV offensive sets created havoc the entire second half . After working the ball for good, open shots in the first half, GV seemed to become a little tentative. With that, the Mustangs (0-5, 0-2) played right into the hands of the Rocket defense, keying many fastbreak chances for Maplewood that were converted.
The Rockets (1-4, 1-2) opened the second half with a 19-0 run to break the game open, and after three free throws by GV cut the lead to 41-29 with just less than five minutes left to play, the Rockets closed out the disheartening game for the Mustangs with a 9-2 run for their first win of the season.
“In the first half, our defense wasn't getting out on their shooters,” Maplewood coach Mark Yoder said. “We did notice that they had tendencies to try crosscourt passes, and felt if we did a better job of anticipating their passes, we could disrupt their offense. We rotated much better in the second half, and I was really pleased with how we played.
“They were able to get some good shots in the second half, but our defense got into their faces much more quickly, alterred a few shots, and forced turnovers, many of which we were able to convert into fast break baskets.”
Kristan McClintock provided a bright spot in the first half with three hoops for eight points, but that was all she would get in the game as she was the top scorer for the Mustangs. She also had five steals and five rebounds, but she and the rest of her teammates almost seemed allergic to the ball in the second half in this game. It will be a classic game to file and forget for the Mustangs as they head into the holiday season still searching for that first win of the year.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
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INDIVIDUAL BATTING (minimum 40 at-bats)
PLAYER SCHOOL AVG OB% SLG% AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Lexi Zappitelli Conneaut .605 .632 .921 76 28 46 22 6 2 23 17
Brittany Baitt Riverside .518 .560 .831 83 32 43 5 6 3 21 0
Deanna Comp Jefferson .511 .582 .851 47 17 24 6 2 1 10 9
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Geneva 19-2 * 11-1 (PAC)
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