O-D Pulls Away From Lady Trojans
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Taking on the host Triton Lady Trojans (15-7) in the title game, the Lady Bobcats (19-2) used a 13-0 run in the opening quarter to turn a 9-5 lead into 22-5 advantage.
Falling behind 22-7 after one quarter, the Lady Trojans just couldn’t come back, losing 62-40.
“They’re relentless,” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said of O-D. “They do a great job at what they do – constant pressure. They have five kids that can also step out there and score from about anywhere on the floor. That’s the difference. They can continue to push and push and push like that.”
The sectional title is O-D’s seventh in the past eight years and is the seventh time its ended Triton’s season in the past eight years.
The one time Triton was able to defeat the Lady Bobcats was in the 2011 sectional title game.
That 62-48 Triton victory occurred when O-D was starting freshmen Ashley Campbell, Jessica Avarone and Alicia McIntosh.
Since then, the O-D trio has gone 62-11 with three sectional titles, but had been running into buzzsaw Fort Wayne Canterbury in the regional.
After winning six of the previous seven Class 1A state championships, dating back to O-D’s in 2007, Canterbury has been moved up to Class 2A, making it seem inevitable that the Lady Bobcats will claim the title this year.
“They’re a great team,” Heckaman said. “I have a lot of respect for them for what they’ve done. I’ll be pulling for them the whole way, but it’s game by game. Anything can happen. Do I want them to win? Heck yeah. I want to say we lost to the state champions, but they have to bring it every game and they need to realize it’s going to get tougher and tougher.”
In Class 1A, No. 2 Southwestern (Shelbyville) and No. 3 Attica have already bowed out of the tournament.
Instead of viewing that as an easy road to the state title, which begins at Saturday’s Caston Regional against Morgan Township, O-D coach Terry Minix views it as a cautionary tale.
“We explained to the girls that it doesn’t matter what that ranking means,” he said. “Ranking doesn’t mean anything until about 2 (p.m.) on March 8. If you’re still ranked No. 1 on March, then that ranking means a whole heck of a lot.”
Since falling to Triton back in 2010, O-D has defeated the Lady Trojans seven-straight times, and won the past four meetings by an average of 36 points.
Leading to the lopsided scores against a Triton team that has been a mainstay in the top 10 the past few seasons is the Lady Bobcats’ relentless attack, which continued Saturday.
However, after withstanding O-D’s initial surge, Triton used an 11-1 run to close out the first half, trimming a 33-10 deficit to 34-21 at the break.
Following a three-pointer by junior Krystal Sellers, Triton was within 42-30 with 3:52 remaining in the third quarter, but O-D squashed any comeback hopes, outscoring Triton 7-1 over the next two-and-a-half minutes, building the lead back to 49-31.
“We condition more than most and I remind them of that in the third and fourth quarter,” Minix said. “‘This is our time.’ ‘This is the reason why you run the 55s.’ ‘This is the reason we run three-hour practices.’”
The Lady Bobcats were led by Campbell’s 18 points, McIntosh’s 15 and senior Haley Collings’ 13, while Avarone had nine points and five steals.
Triton was without starting center Lauren Hostrawser for the second-straight game because of a concussion, but Heckaman feels his reserves did what they needed to.
“All of our kids were ready,” he said. “We went with a little bit of a different starting lineup today. I know that’s hard for kids at this point in the year, but I though (junior) Hannah Jennings did a phenomenal job of coming in and responding off the bench. (Senior) Allie Kann also gave us some big minutes coming in to handle the ball. (Junior) Becca (Kennedy also hit some big shots.”
With no Triton players in double figures, Sellers led the Lady Trojans with eight points, followed by seven each from Hannah Jennings, Kennedy and senior Mallorie Jennings.
Restricted were Triton’s top two scorers, as senior Taylor Hatfield was limited to four points, all at the free-throw line, and junior Kylie Mason finished with five on 2-of-10 shooting.
“We ran a defense that was kind of like a matchup, concentrating on Mason and Hatfield,” Minix said. “By doing that, we also kept someone on Sellers, because she’s the general and would be the one getting them the ball. It worked out.”
Mason averaged 17 points per game this season, but against O-D’s athletic, swarming defense, she wasn’t able to get it going.
“They do a great job on her,” Heckaman said. “She’s going to be the focal point of a lot of defenses. Sometimes it’s hard for her to understand that, but we have other kids that can step up and shoot and score. I think that’s the thing she’s starting to see and she’ll continue to see next year, which is, as the other kids score, it’s hard to defenses to concentrate on her.”
For now, Heckaman can only look back at what could have been against an O-D team that has a 61-52 win over Class 4A No. 4 Penn under its belt this season.
“We had the right idea,” he said. “We had the right plan in place. Just starting the game the way we did, not being able to hit our shots, is really what cost us.”
OREGON-DAVIS 62, TRITON 40
(Sectional 51, C'ship)
OD 22 12 15 13 – 62
T 7 14 12 7 – 40
OD – Ashley Campbell 6-17 4-9 18, Alicia McIntosh 6-9 0-0 15, Jessica Avarone 3-10 1-4 9, Lexi Minix 2-5 2-2 7, Haley Collings 6-8 1-2 13, Taylor Kranenburg 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Trott 0-0 0-0 0, Kendra Sauer 0-1 0-0 0, Madison Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Alexandria Bope 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 8-17 62.
Triton – Taylor Hatfield 0-3 4-4 4, Krystal Sellers 3-4 0-0 8, Kylie Mason 2-10 0-0 5, Mallorie Jennings 2-6 1-3 7, Jaela Meister 0-2 2-2 2, Allie Kann 0-3 0-0 0, Hannah Jennings 3-13 1-1 7, Becca Kennedy 2-6 1-2 7. Totals 12-47 9-12 40.
Three-pointers – OD 8-23 (McIntosh 3, Campbell 2, Avarone 2, Minix), Triton 7-21 (Sellers 2, Kennedy 2, M. Jennings 2, Mason); Team Fouls – OD 13, Triton 15; Turnovers – OD 10, Triton 17; Rebounds – OD 36 (Campbell 8), Triton 36 (H. Jennings 6, Meister 6); Assists – OD 16 (Campbell 6), Triton 9 (M. Jennings 3); Steals – OD 13 (Averone 5), Triton 5 (Sellers 3); Blocks – OD 4 (Collings 3), Triton 5 (H. Jennings 2, M. Jennings 2).
Records: OD 19-2, Triton 15-7.[[In-content Ad]]
Taking on the host Triton Lady Trojans (15-7) in the title game, the Lady Bobcats (19-2) used a 13-0 run in the opening quarter to turn a 9-5 lead into 22-5 advantage.
Falling behind 22-7 after one quarter, the Lady Trojans just couldn’t come back, losing 62-40.
“They’re relentless,” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said of O-D. “They do a great job at what they do – constant pressure. They have five kids that can also step out there and score from about anywhere on the floor. That’s the difference. They can continue to push and push and push like that.”
The sectional title is O-D’s seventh in the past eight years and is the seventh time its ended Triton’s season in the past eight years.
The one time Triton was able to defeat the Lady Bobcats was in the 2011 sectional title game.
That 62-48 Triton victory occurred when O-D was starting freshmen Ashley Campbell, Jessica Avarone and Alicia McIntosh.
Since then, the O-D trio has gone 62-11 with three sectional titles, but had been running into buzzsaw Fort Wayne Canterbury in the regional.
After winning six of the previous seven Class 1A state championships, dating back to O-D’s in 2007, Canterbury has been moved up to Class 2A, making it seem inevitable that the Lady Bobcats will claim the title this year.
“They’re a great team,” Heckaman said. “I have a lot of respect for them for what they’ve done. I’ll be pulling for them the whole way, but it’s game by game. Anything can happen. Do I want them to win? Heck yeah. I want to say we lost to the state champions, but they have to bring it every game and they need to realize it’s going to get tougher and tougher.”
In Class 1A, No. 2 Southwestern (Shelbyville) and No. 3 Attica have already bowed out of the tournament.
Instead of viewing that as an easy road to the state title, which begins at Saturday’s Caston Regional against Morgan Township, O-D coach Terry Minix views it as a cautionary tale.
“We explained to the girls that it doesn’t matter what that ranking means,” he said. “Ranking doesn’t mean anything until about 2 (p.m.) on March 8. If you’re still ranked No. 1 on March, then that ranking means a whole heck of a lot.”
Since falling to Triton back in 2010, O-D has defeated the Lady Trojans seven-straight times, and won the past four meetings by an average of 36 points.
Leading to the lopsided scores against a Triton team that has been a mainstay in the top 10 the past few seasons is the Lady Bobcats’ relentless attack, which continued Saturday.
However, after withstanding O-D’s initial surge, Triton used an 11-1 run to close out the first half, trimming a 33-10 deficit to 34-21 at the break.
Following a three-pointer by junior Krystal Sellers, Triton was within 42-30 with 3:52 remaining in the third quarter, but O-D squashed any comeback hopes, outscoring Triton 7-1 over the next two-and-a-half minutes, building the lead back to 49-31.
“We condition more than most and I remind them of that in the third and fourth quarter,” Minix said. “‘This is our time.’ ‘This is the reason why you run the 55s.’ ‘This is the reason we run three-hour practices.’”
The Lady Bobcats were led by Campbell’s 18 points, McIntosh’s 15 and senior Haley Collings’ 13, while Avarone had nine points and five steals.
Triton was without starting center Lauren Hostrawser for the second-straight game because of a concussion, but Heckaman feels his reserves did what they needed to.
“All of our kids were ready,” he said. “We went with a little bit of a different starting lineup today. I know that’s hard for kids at this point in the year, but I though (junior) Hannah Jennings did a phenomenal job of coming in and responding off the bench. (Senior) Allie Kann also gave us some big minutes coming in to handle the ball. (Junior) Becca (Kennedy also hit some big shots.”
With no Triton players in double figures, Sellers led the Lady Trojans with eight points, followed by seven each from Hannah Jennings, Kennedy and senior Mallorie Jennings.
Restricted were Triton’s top two scorers, as senior Taylor Hatfield was limited to four points, all at the free-throw line, and junior Kylie Mason finished with five on 2-of-10 shooting.
“We ran a defense that was kind of like a matchup, concentrating on Mason and Hatfield,” Minix said. “By doing that, we also kept someone on Sellers, because she’s the general and would be the one getting them the ball. It worked out.”
Mason averaged 17 points per game this season, but against O-D’s athletic, swarming defense, she wasn’t able to get it going.
“They do a great job on her,” Heckaman said. “She’s going to be the focal point of a lot of defenses. Sometimes it’s hard for her to understand that, but we have other kids that can step up and shoot and score. I think that’s the thing she’s starting to see and she’ll continue to see next year, which is, as the other kids score, it’s hard to defenses to concentrate on her.”
For now, Heckaman can only look back at what could have been against an O-D team that has a 61-52 win over Class 4A No. 4 Penn under its belt this season.
“We had the right idea,” he said. “We had the right plan in place. Just starting the game the way we did, not being able to hit our shots, is really what cost us.”
OREGON-DAVIS 62, TRITON 40
(Sectional 51, C'ship)
OD 22 12 15 13 – 62
T 7 14 12 7 – 40
OD – Ashley Campbell 6-17 4-9 18, Alicia McIntosh 6-9 0-0 15, Jessica Avarone 3-10 1-4 9, Lexi Minix 2-5 2-2 7, Haley Collings 6-8 1-2 13, Taylor Kranenburg 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Trott 0-0 0-0 0, Kendra Sauer 0-1 0-0 0, Madison Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Alexandria Bope 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 8-17 62.
Triton – Taylor Hatfield 0-3 4-4 4, Krystal Sellers 3-4 0-0 8, Kylie Mason 2-10 0-0 5, Mallorie Jennings 2-6 1-3 7, Jaela Meister 0-2 2-2 2, Allie Kann 0-3 0-0 0, Hannah Jennings 3-13 1-1 7, Becca Kennedy 2-6 1-2 7. Totals 12-47 9-12 40.
Three-pointers – OD 8-23 (McIntosh 3, Campbell 2, Avarone 2, Minix), Triton 7-21 (Sellers 2, Kennedy 2, M. Jennings 2, Mason); Team Fouls – OD 13, Triton 15; Turnovers – OD 10, Triton 17; Rebounds – OD 36 (Campbell 8), Triton 36 (H. Jennings 6, Meister 6); Assists – OD 16 (Campbell 6), Triton 9 (M. Jennings 3); Steals – OD 13 (Averone 5), Triton 5 (Sellers 3); Blocks – OD 4 (Collings 3), Triton 5 (H. Jennings 2, M. Jennings 2).
Records: OD 19-2, Triton 15-7.[[In-content Ad]]
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