BOB ETTINGER
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.
