Lady Eagles lose Saturday

Sunday, January 25, 2015

By MASON ASHER, For the Banner Graphic

A defensive battle ensued at South Putnam when the Bulldogs come for a visit on Saturday night against the Lady Eagles. The guests prevailed in the low scoring game 33-19.

The Monrovia defense would not let South Putnam have any easy baskets, and in fact, the defense only allowed one in the first half. That basket came from sophomore Jenna Carmichael with five seconds left in the half.

"I think our press sped them up and we were defending the post extremely well," Monrovia head coach Kyle Swafford said. "Our communication was the key and our half court was solid all night."

"I thought our defense played pretty well. The problem was when you shoot 1-for -15 in the first half, it will make it tough," South Putnam head coach Tim Garver said. "We wanted to keep them under 40 points and we did that. We just need to hit shots."

Monrovia played well on offense in the first quarter, scoring 10 points but not as well in the second only scoring four, but that was a testament to the defense in the game.

"I thought we moved the ball extremely well in the first half and we did not move the ball as well in the second half," Swafford.

The Eagles offense was nonexistent until the fourth quarter. Going into the quarter they had six points and in three minutes the Eagles cut the Bulldog lead to 25-13 after scoring seven quick points.

"I thought we handled the zone well, I just did not think we penetrated and get the ball inside," Garver said.

The Eagles used their press to try and claw back into the game but the Bulldogs used their press as well to stunt except the times the Eagles would break it to gain some easy baskets.

"We handled the press well, we knew if we could move the ball we would be OK," Garver said.

The Bulldogs used their offensive rebounding to keep getting looks and knocked down their free throws in the last three minutes to seal the win.

Coming up big for the Bulldogs was Hunter. Even though did not show up prominently in the scorebook, she led the offense well and kept her composure during the Eagle press to give out five assists and also added two steals.

"She does so much more than score," Swafford said. "She is a floor general, she knows how to set people up and she is a great teammate and an even better leader."

"She can score points but I think we held her in check for the most part," Garver said.

Both teams can take this game and look at it for ways to improve on offense, but also both teams have some things they can improve on defense despite both teams playing great defense.

"We have to make shaper cuts and our ball handling everywhere. We have to be sharper in other areas and we have time and they want to get better," Swafford said.

Garver has some ideas on improving late in the season.

"We need to get some shooting drills in and we need to work on finishing at the rim. We got the ball inside and sometimes you will have those nights and tonight the shots were not falling."

At South Putnam

Monrovia 10 4 8 11 - 33

South Putnam 1 2 3 13 - 19

SCORING

Monrovia (33): Keen 5-9 1-2 14, Tharp 2-4 1-1 5, Whitney 2-4 1-1 5, Longere 1-7 2-2 3, Speck 1-2 0-3 2, Wright 1-4 0-0 2, Hunter 0-2 1-3 1, Bennett 0-1 0-0 0, Price 0-1 0-0 0, Russell 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12-35 (3-9) 6-13, 33.

South Putnam (19): Bieghler 0-11 5-6 5, Hewitt 2-7 1-2 5, Carmichael 1-2 1-2 3, Dobson 1-8 1-1 3, Lady 1-7 0-0 2, Higgins 0-2 1-2 1, McHugh 0-1 0-0 0, Stein 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 5-44 (0-16) 9-13, 19.

REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)

Monrovia (34-8): Whitney 7-2, Longere 6-0, Tharp 6-1, Speck 4-1, Wright 4-2, Hunter 3-1, Keen 3-1, Russell 1-0 .

South Putnam (25-9): Hewitt 6-3, Carmichael 5-2, Dobson 4-0, Lady 3-1, McHugh 2-1, Modglin 2-1, Bieghler 1-0, Higgins 1-0, Stein 1-0.

Assists: M 6 (Hunter 5, Keen 1), SP 3 (Bieghler 1, Higgins 1, Lady 1).

Steals: M 8, (Hunter 2, Speck 2, Wright 2, Longere 1, Whitney 1), SP 10 (Higgins 3, Bieghler 2, Carmichael 2, Hewitt 1, Lady 1, McHugh 1 ).