Girls Basketball: Early Start Helps Logan Elm Top Fairfield Union 40-22
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Logan Elm came out of the gates early and built a16-point lead to start and kept Fairfield Union at bay in a 40-22 Mid State League Buckeye battle Thursday night.
The Braves used an aggressive 2-3 zone defense to force Fairfield Union into turnovers. Meanwhile, the defense forced outside shots that simply weren’t finding the basket.
“It’s not your traditional, we don’t even call it our 2-3 zone.” said Shultz. “There’s a lot of different principles that we put in. But we also expect our tops, what we call our guards, to be extremely active. And then everyone else just responds to where they’re supposed to go. The girls have really come along way. We started putting this all in over the summertime and now we’re starting to see it come to light.”
It frustrated the Falcons, and had Coach Keith Barr a bit unsettled, too. “We talked about the first quarter was important. We came out flat and they didn’t. and against a team like that, you’re gonna fight uphill the whole game.” Barr was encouraged with how his Falcons played defense. “I was pleased we gave up 40-points to this team and defensively… we did a really nice job. We just missed too many bunnies… we missed at least 10 shots inside the paint. I was tickled with our defense, but we can’t give them get an 18-4 start.”
In the photo: Logan Elm’s Kimmy Petty delivers a pass to the Braves’ Kennedy Groff in a 40-22 win over Fairfield Union.
The missed shots began with the opening possession. After winning the tip, the Falcons didn’t hesitate in launching the ball. Logan Elm snagged the rebound and Palynn Wray stormed the lane, hitting the bank shot and adding a free throw following the foul on the drive. Kimmy Petty followed with a field goal and Kiki Ingram dropped in a pair of shots from the charity stripe and before you know it, the Braves were up 7-2. The Falcons managed just 4-points in the period while Logan Elm was leaving the Falcons in their dust, taking a commanding 18-4 lead through the first period.
Neither team shot well in the second period, but Logan Elm controlled the looks at the basket by Fairfield Union. The defenders stepped in passing lanes for steals and when the Falcons were able to get to the low block, they couldn’t buy a bucket. The Braves held a 23-7 lead at the intermission.
Logan Elm dictated the tempo on both sides of the floor. The largest lead was 22-points at 32-10. There was no quit in the Falcons as they got as close as 35-22, but the clock wasn’t working in their favor and they need more baskets than time would permit.
Wray lead all scorers with 11-points and Petty added 10 more. Ingram was having just as much luck as the Falcons were. Her lone field goal came in the final seconds. Everything else was from the line with 7-poinnts total. Kennedy Groff hit a pair of three-pointers for 6-points with Maleah Gardner getting 4-points inside and Gillian Savage added two.
For Fairfield Union, Taylor Smeck led the way, managing 8-points on a night Logan Elm made it tough to shoot and tough to get a look. Emma Spillers, Maddi Mitchell and Maycee Martindill had 3-points apiece, Macie Wolfe and Annesley Leith added two each and Xaley Bojanowaki tallied on-point.
Logan Elm improves to 12-1 overall and 5-1 in the MSL-Buckeye while Fairfield Union falls to 7-4 and 3-2 in the league.
The Braves host Zane Trace next Tuesday while Fairfield Union are home with league leading Circleville Wednesday.
