Warrior girls basketball relies on defense and team shooting in wins
Ashlyn Scherf looks for a shot in the Warriors’ win over West Central. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Delaney Scherf was Central’s leading scorer in all three games last week—putting up double digits each time.
Hannah Asche and Central’s stifling defense helped lead the team to conference wins over West Central and Kee.
Lexi Loan takes the ball up the court in Central's match-up with Kee.
Grace Kuehl defends a West Central player.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The winning continued for the Central girls basketball team last week, as the Warriors took down two conference opponents in West Central and Kee, before succumbing to non-conference foe Springville in an early test of the team’s overall growth.
In the game against West Central, the Warriors overcame offensive inefficiency with a defensive performance that forced 32 turnovers and accumulated 20 steals and four blocks. In fact, every Warrior player except one finished the game with a steal. Delaney Scherf and Gracie Cummer led the way with four each, followed by Carly Kluesner and Hannah Asche with three. The defense also held the Blue Devils to 32.4 percent shooting.
On offense, the Warriors struggled to make their shots, finishing 19.4 percent from the field and making just 13 of 67 attempts. Luckily, the offense was aided by 18 Blue Devil fouls, which created scoring opportunities from the free throw line, where the Warriors went 19-26.
The scoring was led by Delaney Scherf with 21—11 of which came from the free throw line. Grace Kuehl added seven and Haley Frieden had six. In total, eight of 10 Warriors made their way into the scoring column, something coach Mark Wiley said is good to see.
“Our scoring has been spread around early this season thus far…We have had at least seven players in the scoring column each game through five games and even had eight players in the last two games. We have more depth than we did a season ago and all 10 kids are getting some valuable experience against some good competition and players early on in the season,” Wiley continued.
The next game versus the Hawks saw an improved Warrior offense with the same stifling defense, leading to a 67-42 victory. The Warriors scored double-digit points all four periods and held the Hawks to a second half total of 15.
Hawks star Reagan Mudderman had just two field goals in the second half, after she went off for 19 points in the first half. It was an example of defensive adjustments working as the team continues to work on its press defense.
The defense limited the Hawk offense to 34.0 percent shooting from the field and just 1-13 on three point shots, while getting 10 steals and three blocks and forcing 13 turnovers.
Kuehl led the way with three steals, followed by Ashlyn Scherf and Alyson Feickert with two steals each. Frieden had two blocks.
The offense performed better, shooting 34.8 percent from the field, in 11-30 on three point shots. Struggles from the free throw line returned, however, as the Warriors shot 43.5 percent, making 10 of 23.
Again leading the offense was Delaney Scherf with 19, while Frieden was close behind with 17 and Kuehl added 11.
The offense also finished with 24 rebounds, including eight from Cummer and four from Frieden. Delaney Scherf and Kluesner each had three assists.
The game continued to highlight the depth of the offense. Feickert’s seven points off the bench were a career high and, according to Wiley, Kuehl has been a spark for the team early this season.
“Kuehl has a knack for finding her way into the lane off the dribble and does a great job of getting us extra possessions with rebounds on the offensive end,” Wiley added.
The final game of the week against the Orioles showed what the Warriors need to continue to work on, namely turnovers, which plagued the team in the second period. Central turned the ball over on half of its possessions and finished with 23 turnovers for the game, which was a season high.
The offense was stifled by the shifting Oriole defenses, which included a full court man and zone press along with a half court 1-3-1 press. Even when the Warriors were able to break through, ineffective passes and offensive miscues derailed the offensive possession.
The offense was led by Delaney Scherf, who scored 16 points and added three assists and four rebounds, while Frieden had eight points. Kuehl continued to be a reliable asset, scoring six points with three assists, and Cummer dropped in five points.
As a team, Central shot 37 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from the free throw line.
The Warrior defense also struggled, giving up 28 points to the Orioles’ six-foot post player and senior Lauren Wilson. They secured four steals and five blocks and held the Orioles to just five points in the fourth period, but couldn’t overcome the 38-18 halftime deficit, going on to lose the game 60-46.
“Defensively, the team has played better due to being more active with our feet, trusting each other with our help defense and making the opponent uncomfortable when they have the basketball with more pressure…We will continue to work on getting better on our press defense, running our sets with more timing and precision and getting more time to shoot in practice,” Wiley said.
The 4-1 Warriors will look to get back on track with two conference games this week. First, they will travel to Clayton Ridge Dec. 7, followed by a home game Dec. 10 versus North Fayette Valley.
