December 17, 2013
Active hands help NMCC take down Oran
sports@standard-democrat.com NEW MADRID -- The New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles like to get at least a finger on the ball at all times when on defense. Deflections, tips and steals was the blueprint against the Oran Lady Eagles as NMCC's pressure defense caused fits in their 68-57 win Monday...
By Chris Pobst - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
NEW MADRID -- The New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles like to get at least a finger on the ball at all times when on defense.
Deflections, tips and steals was the blueprint against the Oran Lady Eagles as NMCC's pressure defense caused fits in their 68-57 win Monday.
"Their intensity got to us," Oran head coach Ethan Evans said. "They get up and get after you."
Rashaunda Summers led NMCC with 27 points. She scored 17 in the second half. Keisha Rainer added 20 that included four 3-pointers and Amirah Ruff chipped in with 10.
"It's a big win for us," NMCC head coach David Crockett said. "We've been off for a while with the weather and how it's been and we knew Oran was going to give us everything they had."
NMCC's active hands led to numerous transition attempts which was the bulk of their offense. Though they did not convert at a successful rate.
"We missed a lot of shots," said Crockett.
Despite struggling from point-black range, NMCC, uncharacteristically, made Oran pay from the outside. They knocked down eight 3-pointers as a team.
"That's something we've been working on because teams are going to make us shoot from the outside. They always have," Crockett said. "We've got to be able to knock those down and hopefully that will open up the drive. Tonight, they were falling."
Rainer led with four, Ruff and Summers added two more each from long range.
"They probably shot the best they shot all year," Evans said about NMCC. "It had a lot to do with us not covering people, especially [Rainer], she was a heck of a shooter. We just didn't find her in our zone."
NMCC (3-1) earned the early lead in the first quarter with Ruff and Summers leading the way. The two combined for 16 of their first 19 points as Oran struggled to get on track without their leading scorer in the early going.
Addie Kielhofner, who ended up leading Oran with 24 points, picked up her second foul in the first two-and-a-half minutes forcing her to the bench and to miss the remainder of the first quarter.
"We've gotten away from that the first couple of games and now the last two games that's starting to creep back," Evans said about Kielhofner's early foul trouble. "She's key to our offense and what we want to do. She can take anybody off the dribble and get to the hole."
Without Kielhofner Oran's offense sputtered. They also went 5 of 16 from the free throw line.
"We probably missed 15 layups or more and about that many free throws," Evans said. "We would beat them down the court, but for some reason we wouldn't execute on the other end."
Once Kielhofner re-entered, Oran's offense picked up. Though, they couldn't slow down the home team. NMCC led 37-25 at the half and 54-42 at the end of the third quarter. NMCC led by as much as 15 points in the second half. The closest Oran could get was nine points, which they did three times in the fourth quarter.
Ashlyn McIntosh added 14 points. Allie Cummins scored 10 for Oran, who is coming off of a second place finish in the Chaffee Lady Devils Invitational Saturday.
"We didn't have a real good practice [Sunday]," said Evans. "I know the girls were wore down mentally and physically after that loss in Chaffee [Saturday], but playing a good, physical team like New Madrid I knew it was going to be tough."
Oran 10 15 17 15 -- 57
NMCC 19 18 17 14 -- 68
ORAN (57) -- Addie Kielhofner 24, Ashlyn McIntosh 14, Taylor Nenninger 5, Allie Cummins 10, Tatum May 2, Kaylen Glastetter 2. FG 26 FT 5-16 F 15. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)
NMCC (68) -- Shanterra Waters 4, Amirah Ruff 10, Keisha Rainer 20, Whitney Williams 1, Rashaunda Summers 27, Octavia Smith 6. FG 28 FT 4-17 F 14. (3-pointers: Ruff 2, Rainer 4, Summers 2. Fouled out: Smith.)
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