Lady Lancers fail to maintain aggressive-edge – fall to Wildcats
| BataviasBest.org
Saturday, March 7, 2015
The Elba Girls Basketball team saw their long journey come to an end last night, as they fell to the Jasper-Troupsburg Wildcats 55-47 in the Section V Class D1 Title game. After trailing early, Elba was able to battle all the way back to take a six-point lead during the third quarter, but the Lancers eventually went on to allow the Wildcats to regain their advantage late in the contest and eventually win the Championship.
Beginning the game on Friday night Elba truly struggled to find any sort of a rhythm on the offensive end. Missing several open layups that they normally would make, as well as starting relatively cold from the perimeter, not much had gone right for the Lancers throughout the first several minutes of the contest. By the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats had already taken a 12-7 lead which forced Elba to mount an early comeback.
To begin the second the Lancers’ struggles continued, as throughout the first few minutes of the quarter their shots continued to be just a bit off, while their defense was also lacking – as they put J-T in the bonus with 4:00 left in the half.
However, that wasn’t enough to kill this resilient Lancers team, and as the clock wound down under three minutes,
Elba continued to battle and were even able to trim the deficit to just five points with 1:40 left until halftime. The brief run came largely due to a few key buckets from the Lancers’ Alex Reigle, who seemed to be breaking out just in time for her team.
By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, Elba had cut the J-T advantage all the way down to just four points after trailing by as much as eleven, and the two sides went into the locker room with the score 26-22.
Throughout the first half, Elba had done a decent job on the Wildcats’ standout guard McKenzie Prutsman – who had scored 43 points during her team’s previous contest – as she had just 10 points at the halftime horn (8 during the second quarter). Other halftime stats included Elba’s Reigle with 7 points, Alyssa Bogue with 8 points, and Haley Brown with 5 points. Chelsea Carl also had 5 for J-T.
Coming out of the locker room Elba would open things up offensively, as Brown was able to drill a couple of free throws for her team in order to trim the deficit back down to just two. Following the free throws, Elba began their run that would eventually catapult them into the lead.
With 5:30 left in the third and the Lancers again down by four, Reigle was able to spark her team by connecting from deep on a three-ball that brought the Wildcats’ advantage down to just one. Following the deep shot, Brown was also able to dial-in from long distance, as the Senior drained another three for her team in order to give them their first lead of the ballgame at 30-28 with 4:30 left in the third – which put Elba’s Maroon Platoon cheering section into a frenzy.
After the explosion, though, the Wildcats were able to respond on the other end to tie the score, but it was Reigle who again drained a three-ball on the Lancers’ next possession – which gave them their largest lead of the contest at 33-30 with 3:48 left in the frame.
Throughout the final minutes of the third the game continued to go back-and-forth, but when the dust cleared and as the teams were headed for the fourth quarter, Elba remained ahead by three points (38-35).
As the final frame began, I truly believed the Lancers had possessed all of the momentum and were going to win the game. However, immediately to begin fourth, something seemed to change on Elba’s side.
With the Wildcats coming out to begin the quarter with a level of aggressiveness they had not shown since the first
ten minutes of the game, the Lancers seemed to give way to their opponent – allowing them to regain momentum and the lead.
It was curious to me that the level of confidence the Elba players had shown during their third quarter run had all but faded, leaving their team scrambling to keep up offensively.
After tying the score at 38-38 with 6:36 left in regulation, throughout the next couple of minutes the Wildcats did indeed regain the lead – pushing it to as many as four before Elba would crack their fourth quarter seal. Momentum had officially swung back in favor of J-T, who after a brief lapse during the second and third quarters, now seemed poised to take control of the game.
With 4:00 left in regulation, following a layup from Bogue which was the Lancers’ first points of the quarter, Elba found themselves down by just two points as each side geared-up for the home stretch. Unfortunately for the Lancers, though, McKenzie Prutsman seemed to have a higher-gear than any other player on the floor over the final minutes of the game.
Time-after-time Prutsman would receive the ball on the perimeter, and time-after-time she was able to split the middle of the Elba defense and get to the rim.
Although the scrappy guard was able to finish a few layups and short jumpers in the lane off of her strong drives down the lane, what really helped her close the deal for her team was her ability to draw fouls, coupled with her success at the free throw line. As time winded down, Prutsman scored I believe 10 of her team’s final 12 points, (unofficial),many of which coming from the charity stripe – which all but secured the victory for her team.
In addition to Prutsman’s apparent prowess, Elba’s inability to maintain their aggressiveness on offense and mistake-free play on defense is what eventually did them in. They allowed far too many quality looks for their opponent down the stretch and failed to return the favor on the other end – eventually leading to their demise.
In the end, Elba lost the game by a score of 55-47 – falling just short of the Class D1 Title.
While it was certainly disappointing to see a team with such great promise exit the Sectional Tournament without a Title when they were so close, in my opinion, this group over-performed this season.
Going into the year, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Lancers, as they had lost their top-scorer in Kelsey Bezon, and had many players stepping into prominent roles they had not been accustomed to previously. However, due to high-effort throughout the season as well as another quality job done by head coach Tom Redband, this team made it all the way to the end of the road – falling just short of attaining the ultimate prize.
As I said in my comments on Twitter post game, this team has nothing to be ashamed of this season – and everything to be proud of.
Congratulations to the Lady Lancers on a fantastic season!!
STATS
Prutsman (J-T) – 19 points, 8 rebounds
Miles (J-T) – 9 points
VanFleet (J-T) – 9 points
Brown (Elba) – 16 points
Reigle (Elba) – 14 points, 11 rebounds
Bogue (Elba) – 13 points, 10 rebounds
Other articles you may like:
Coaches Corner: Elba Girls Basketball – Tom Redband
Here are five things to take away from Elba Girls Basketball’s Sectional run thus far
A total of three local Girls Basketball teams advance to Section V Finals – Two fall just short
