GENEVA — Size does matter.
At least the Geneva girls basketball team made it matter in a 73-56 Premier Athletic Conference victory over Madison on Wednesday at Geneva.
The Eagles (6-1, 4-0) got a combined 48 points and 39 rebounds from Taylor Webb, Natalie Stanley and Ashley Meaney.
“We are very blessed to have post players that know how to finish and guards that know how to distribute the ball to them,” Geneva coach Nancy Barbo said.
And Barbo wanted to make sure the guards did exactly that.
“(Getting the ball to the posts) was the emphasis for sure,” Barbo said. “Until a team stops it, we’ll keep going with what’s working.”
Webb finished with 21 points, Stanley tallied 20 and Meaney added seven off the bench.
“We knew they would hurt us because of our lack of size,” Madison coach Mike Smith said. “We weren’t executing anything we worked on in practice. The kids got a little frustrated that the stuff we were trying wasn’t working.
“Give Nancy’s team credit, they took us out of what we wanted to do.”
What was working for the Eagles was the guards driving the lane and dishing to the posts as the defense collapsed to stop the drive.
“With each game we play, they become more comfortable with one another,” Barbo said. “The more they’re around each other, they get a little better. They’ve made a great improvement from Game 1 in that respect.”
“For two days we worked on how to defend them,” Smith said. “We tried to tell them when the guards drive, they’re going to dish. They’re not driving to score. Once we got down, we couldn’t play zone anymore. We had to play man and it’s hard to stop that.
“We knew they would drive and dish. We tried to tell them not to help off of the bigs, but once we got in the heat of the game, we lost focus on what we planned to do. That made the difference.”
The Geneva guards combined for 15 assists. Carly Cash led the way with six and Courtney Thompson and Jillian Nazor each had three.
Geneva hurt the Blue Streaks (3-5, 2-2) on the boards, too. The Eagles outrebounded Madison, 51-27.
“They stuck with it and kept battling,” Barbo said. “It’s just like anything. If you keep battling and keep working hard, good things are going to happen.”
Webb tallied 18 rebounds, Stanley 11 and Meaney 10.
“They took us out of what we wanted to do and just dominated the boards,” Smith said. “No doubt, Natalie and Taylor came out ready to play.”
Kelsey Koskinen tallied 19 points and Kate Oberstar added 18 to lead the Blue Streaks.
Sports
No matter how you size it...
Geneva’s post players, combined with solid guard play, too much for Madison
- Sports
-
-
Comforts of home
A trip home led to a meteoric improvement for Ohio State Buckeye Mallory Kreider, who destroyed her personal best in the 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) by 52 seconds Friday night during the Spire Division I Indoor Track and Field Invitational.
-
Look out for Lakeside
Lakeside coach Rob Pisano has been waiting for this moment. And waiting. And waiting.
-
Falcons fall
As the Jefferson Falcons’ rise to respectability under first-year coach Jeremy Huber continues, they have continuously improved on certain aspects of their game.
-
A case for the offense
Forget offense versus defense. When Edgewood hosted Conneaut on Friday night, It was offense versus offense. And the Warriors won, 69-59.
-
Familiar refrain for Torok & Co.
Geneva boys basketball coach Scott Torok is no Bill Murray. However, he may feel like a character in the actor’s movie “Groundhog Day.”
-
Perry raids Harvey
The Perry boys can celebrate the fact they have now won twice in a row, and they deserve to do that. But along with Friday’s 66-54 win against visiting Harvey came a sight that nobody ever wants to see.
-
Scholastic Statistics:
BOYS BASKETBALL
PREMIER
Lakeside 89, Madison 76
at Madison -
Scholastic Schedule:
SATURDAY, FEB. 11
Girls Basketball
n Madison at Chardon (1)
n Lakeview at Edgewood (1)
n Conneaut at Jefferson (6)
n Lakeside at Riverside (1)
n SJP at Badger (2, varsity only) -
Riverside sneaks past Edgewood
Riverside wrestling coach Scott Blank learned a good deal of what he knows from Edgewood coach Greg Stolfer as a former Warrior great. Thursday, he used a bit of that knowledge to get the better of his old coach as the Beavers bested the Warriors, 31-28, at Edgewood.
-
Madison rolls past Geneva
Madison recovered from coming out on the short end of a pin in the first match of the night by taking six of the next seven matches against Geneva and capped the night with pins from their last pair of grapplers in dismantling the Eagles, 49-17.
- More Sports Headlines
-
