Logan Brown (22) of MHS drives along the baseline Friday evening against Dublin Coffman. Brown scored 15 points during the Lady Monarchs’ loss.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Marysville High School girls basketball coach Brooke Young knew what her team was getting into on Friday when the Lady Monarchs hosted Dublin Coffman.
The Lady Shamrocks went into the game with an 8-0 record and did nothing to damage that unblemished mark with their 88-41 victory.
“We know they are a very strong team,” said Young, whose squad slipped to 5-4. “No. 4 (Jacy Sheldon) for them is going to play at Ohio State and Russell (Imarianah) is a freshman who moved into their district.”
Sheldon led all scorers with 22 points, yet Young was very pleased with the defense played on the sharpshooter by Caitlin Cotner.
“We knew Sheldon was going to score her points,” said Young. “We just didn’t want her to get a ton of them.
“I thought Caitlin played amazing defense against her.”
Young also pointed out that her team never quit and continued to focus on its game.
“That’s what we preach,” she said. “Our game is a man-to-man defense and that’s what we stayed with. We also maintained our intensity the entire game and never quit.”
Coffman had just too much steam in all facets of the game for the Lady Monarchs to handle.
The Shamrocks forced a number of turnovers with their pressing, trapping defense and were able to convert many of those miscues into transition baskets.
The visitors also did a nice job of moving and sharing the ball against MHS’ halfcourt defense.
Dublin finished the game with a balanced scoring attack.
Aside from Sheldon’s 22 points, Russell tallied 20, Kaitlyn Kopyar scored 18 and Riley Wagner added 10.
Young felt the Lady Monarchs played their best first quarter of the season.
A three-pointer by Logan Brown gave MHS an early 5-2 lead before the Rocks went on a quick run.
Russell scored back-to-back buckets to give the visitors a 10-5 margin.
Sydney Lee narrowed the deficit to 10-7 for Marysville before two quick Rock buckets doubled the score.
Tinley Graves took a pass from Lee and swished a three-pointer.
In doing so, she pulled Marysville to within 14-10 with about 3:20 left in the opening set.
That was as close as the Lady Monarchs would get the rest of the way.
The Shamrocks went on a 10-0 run and closed the first quarter with a 24-10 lead.
Marysville, which will play in the Canton Jackson Holiday Tournament on Thursday and Friday, was forced to play catch-up basketball the remainder of the game.
That was made more difficult as seniors Cassidy Francisco and Kennedy Welsh missed the contest with ankle injuries and junior Haley Cook was severely limited in what she could do because of a back ailment.
Coffman jumped out to a 29-12 margin on a three-pointer by Kopyar.
Logan Brown, who Young described as the “heartbeat” of the team, responded with a trifecta of her own.
Karleigh Sutter scored on the offensive glass and Cook came up with a bucket.
Brown later beat a Coffman defender on the dribble for a shot that made the halftime score 47-24 in the Shamrocks’ favor.
Sutter opened the third set with a three-ball, but Marysville’s offensive opportunities were few and far between.
A number of possessions came up empty either due to turnovers or shots that went in and out of the basket.
Coffman took a 70-34 advantage by the end of the third quarter and cruised during the final eight minutes of action.
Dublin Coffman
Sheldon 10-1-22, Russell 10-0-20, Kopyar 7-2-18, Wagner 5-0-10, Burris 3-0-6, Machalski 2-1-6, Lafler 2-0-4, Siefker 1-0-2, Flynn 0-0-0, Blake 0-0-0. Totals 40-4-88.
Three-point goals: Kopyar 2, Sheldon 1, Machalski 1.
Marysville
Brown 6-1-15, Sutter 4-1-10, S. Lee 3-0-7, K. Lee 2-0-4, Graves 1-0-3, Cook 1-0-2, Daniel 0-0-0, Wade 0-0-0, Cotner 0-0-0, Colopy 0-0-0. Totals 17-2-41.
Three-point goals: Brown 2, Sutter 1, S. Lee 1, Graves 1.
Marysville’s JVs fell, 52-32. Madison Sharp led the Jr. Monarchs with 12 points.