Sydney Bourquin of Alder buries a three-pointer against Columbus East on Monday. Bourquin tallied 13 points during the tournament victory. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
There really wasn’t much suspense and drama Monday night even when Columbus East’s girls basketball team held an early lead over No. 1-seeded Jonathan Alder.
The remaining 31-plus minutes of the Division II tournament game went as expected when the Lady Pioneers (20-3) cruised to a 70-18 victory over the No. 19-seeded Tigers.
East took a 2-0 lead when 6-0 post player Mari Madison powered her way into a layup.
Alder’s Abby Jones took over during the next several minutes. She tallied the first six JA points to kick-start the Lady Pioneers’ offense.
Alder’s shooters pretty much had their way against the man-to-man or zone defenses that East threw at them.
Even though a number of good looks at the basket failed to fall, the Lady Pioneers had no real trouble piling up the points.
Jones scored 11 of Jonathan Alder’s markers midway through the opening quarter.
She assaulted the bucket with a three-ball that pushed the Lady Pioneers out to a 17-2 lead.
Alder shared the ball well on offense as a number of players had shot opportunities.
Emma Shepherd swished a jumper, while Jones went to the backside of East’s 1-2-2 zone for a shot that stretched the lead to 23-2.
Sydney Bourquin tallied five quick points and Melissa Walbom converted a Tiger turnover into a 30-2 Alder margin by the end of the opening quarter.
East’s inability to keep possession of the ball was a problem throughout the contest.
The Tigers still had trouble with turnovers (many unforced) against a number of Alder subs who rotated in and out of the lineup.
The Lady Pioneers’ advantage continued to climb.
Baskets by Maddie Wilson, Mary Ferrito, Bourquin and Shepherd pushed the Lady Pioneers out to an overwhelming 44-2 advantage.
East did not score its next points until Starr Willis nailed a jumper with 40.9 seconds left in the opening half.
Nija Godrey followed with another Tiger score.
Sophie Zawodny, however buried a three-pointer at the buzzer, sending JA into the turn with a 49-6 lead.
East finally reached double digit scoring when Unique Eure dropped in half of her four three-pointers.
Those shots, however, left East trailing 53-12.
Zawodny scored back-to-back buckets and Walbom hit a shot to stretch Alder’s lead to 60-12.
Eure drilled another three-ball at the horn, but Jonathan Alder held a 60-15 advantage by the end of the stanza.
Eure tallied the Tigers’ final points with another high-arching three-pointer.
Wilson tripled in the last points of the game for JA.
Alder’s substitute players then dribbled out the final minutes of the contest for the victory.
“We knew going in that we were the better team,” said Jonathan Alder head coach Steve Cawley. “However, we also knew we had to execute our game plan and we did it.”
Cawley said he was happy that everyone on his roster got to play and that injuries were avoided.
Now, he said, the Lady Pioneers have to go back to work for the next round of the post-season.
Alder will host No. 18 seed Columbus South at 7 p.m. on Friday in the sectional finals.
While the tournament began with a huge victory, Cawley knows the Lady Pioneers have to sharpen up their game.
“We didn’t shoot as well tonight as we normally do,” he said. “We’ve got to get back into a good shooting rhythm and continue to improve our defensive pressure.
“We’d rather have forced than unforced turnovers by the other team.”
Jonathan Alder
Jones 10-0-21, Bourquin 6-0-13, Ferrito 5-1-11, Zawodny 3-0-7, Wilson 3-0-7, Walbom 2-0-4, Shepherd 2-0-4, Heisler 0-2-2, Salzler 0-1-1, Gray 0-0-0, S. Bushong 0-0-0, Beach 0-0-0. Totals 31-3-70.
Three-point goals: Jones 1, Bourquin 1, Zawodny 1, Wilson 1.
Columbus East
Eure 4-0-12, Madison 1-0-2, Willis 1-0-2, Godfrey 1-0-2, King 0-0-0, Foster 0-0-0. Totals 7-0-18.
Three-point goals: Eure 4.
Jonathan Alder’s Ellie Heisler (30), top photo, battles for a rebound during Monday’s tournament victory over Columbus East. In the bottom photo, Alder’s Abby Jones goes up for two of her game-high 21 points. (Journal-Tribune photos by Tim Miller)