JA’s Sydney Bourquin scores a basket against Bishop Ready on Tuesday. The Lady Pioneers rolled to an easy victory. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
A second-half adjustment to a defense they don’t normally see sparked Jonathan Alder’s girls hoopsters to an 84-26 victory over Columbus Bishop Ready on Tuesday.
The Silver Knights played a 2-3 zone for the entire game and it’s a look the Lady Pioneers aren’t accustomed to encountering against most opponents.
“We really don’t have a lot of teams play zone against us,” said JA coach Steve Cawley as his team improved to 2-0. “Most have to match up with us man-to-man to stop us.”
Alder had to be patient as it got used to the defensive alignment.
“We spent a lot of time during the first half swinging the ball back and forth on the perimeter,” said Cawley. “We made some adjustments at halftime and we were then able to get inside the lane against their zone.”
Although it took some time for Alder to counter-act Ready’s defense, it wasn’t like the home team had much trouble during the first two quarters.
The Silver Knights (1-1) held an early 6-2 lead.
Once Melissa Walbom threw down a trifecta over the zone, the Lady Pioneers were on their way.
Emma Shepherd scored on the offensive glass and later buried a three-pointer that pushed Alder out to a 14-6 margin.
The onslaught continued as baskets by Abby Jones and Mary Ferrito sent JA into the second quarter with a 22-8 margin.
Ready cut its deficit in half at 22-11 when Hope Orders drained a three-pointer within the opening minute of the second period.
Danielle Brown’s bucket reduced Alder’s lead to 24-13.
That was as close as the game got for the remainder of the night.
A stout JA man-to-man defense clogged passing and driving lanes, which in turn forced numerous Ready turnovers.
The Lady Pioneers converted those miscues into transition baskets that sent them into halftime with a 38-13 lead.
If anything, Alder turned the heat up on its defensive pressure during the second half.
The Silver Knights could do very little against the suffocating Alder alignment.
Jones scored twice on easy layups, while Walbom and Sydnie Bushong threw down trifectas over Ready’s zone.
Alder coasted to a 64-20 lead by the end of the third set.
Cawley began to liberally substitute throughout the fourth quarter.
He was pleased with the fact that he got production off the bench from Ellie Heisler and Reggan Gray, who both fired in three-balls during the final few minutes.
“We have a lot of depth,” Cawley said. “We have a deep roster this year.”
The Lady Pioneer lineup is so deep they didn’t have to worry about this game, even though starter Jillian Jakse was out with a back injury.
“We should get Jillian back sometime before Christmas,” said Cawley.
Shepherd led a balanced Pioneer scoring attack with 14 points. Walbom scored 13, while Jones and Sydney Bourquin both added 10.
Jonathan Alder
Shepherd 4-4-14, Walbom 3-5-13, Jones 5-0-10, Bourquin 5-0-10, Zawodny 4-0-9, Ferrito 4-0-8, Wilson 3-2-8, S. Bushong 1-0-3, K. Bushong 1-1-3, Heisler 1-0-3, Gray 1-0-3, Salzler 0-0-0. Totals 32-12-84.
Three-point goals: Shepherd 2, Walbom 2, Zawodny 1, Heisler 1, S. Bushong 1, Gray 1.
Bishop Ready
Schlosser 3-0-6, Grandei 2-1-5, Brown 2-0-4, Herd 1-2-4, Orders 1-0-3, Hejdak 1-0-2, Wheatley 1-0-2. Totals 11-3-26.
Three-point goal: Orders 1.