Girls Basketball: Piketon Takes Huntington 39-32

Article presented by Pike County Career & Technology Center …

Prior to Saturday, Piketon had dropped six straight meetings with the Huntsmen, but Laila Kelley and her teammates had different plans, earning a 39-32 victory.

The date was a make up from earlier in the season and for Redstreaks Head Coach Jason Taylor, it was worth waiting for.

“Coach Tom (Kelley) came up and said ‘We got the monkey off our back” Taylor said in his post-game interview on Litter Media RADIO referring to breaking the string of wins by the Huntsmen. “You play a league team and they know what you do. They know your strengths. We had to adjust and they did and I’m proud of them for that.”

Piketon opened the game with a 9-0 lead before Tori Smith broke the ice for the Huntsmen at 4:47 in the clock.

Huntington entered the contest with hopes of slowing the tempo of the game. Trailing 9-2 entering the second frame, the Huntsmen 2-3 zone created problems for Piketon, forcing turnovers allowing Huntington to scrap back into the game. The Green and White trimmed the lead to 14-11 at the half.

The Redstreaks clamped down on Huntington’s Brailee Hauswirth, limiting the post player to a single basket at the break.

Piketon’s film study showed Huntington’s tendencies to get the ball in the post to Hauswirth and Taylor said his kids played it to near perfection. “That’s how we play” said Taylor. We want to attack (on the post players). We call it ‘dig’ – Come in and dig on the big.”

“They did a really good job of taking Brailee away from us” said Huntington’s Kyle Uhrig. “ I thought they had a very good game plan. They doubled her almost every time we got the ball got a paint touch. We did some good things off of that, getting the ball inside and getting it back outside and knocked down a few shots at times, but we’ve got to shoot the basketball a little more consistent if we’re gonna win big games like this.”

Uhrig was encouraged by his team’s play through the first half, hoping to control the tempo in the second half. 

Taylor held his team for nearly the entire halftime break, discussing how to create opportunities facing the Huntington zone.

“The pace of the game really slows down whenever you see a zone like that” said Kelley. “You really have to work to get the ball in the paint to try to get those kick outs. Once we started making some of those outside shots, they had to start coming out a bit and that gave us the inside presence and our pace of play had to slow down so we could see what was open inside there.”

Kelley led all scorers with 18-points.

Piketon dictated how the second half would open and both teams went on a scoring barrage.   Taylor Tisdale sank a three-pointer to cut the margin to 19-18. The Redstreaks’ Reese Shanks hit a basket and Kelley followed up with a three-pointer to build a gap the Huntsmen couldn’t overcome.

The Redstreaks essentially won the game from the charity stripe, hitting 11-of-15 free throws to Huntington’s 3-of-8.

The Huntsmen were led by Taylor Tisdale’s 9-points.

Piketon improved to 8-3 overall and 5-1 behind SVC leader Unioto who remains undefeated in conference play. Huntington slipped to 6-7 on the season and 2-4 in the conference.

Both teams are back in SVC play this Thursday. The Redstreaks head to Westfall while Huntington visits Zane Trace.

CLICK HERE TO SEE SCORES FROM SATURDAY’S GAME ON THE HANES TOTAL HEALTH CARE HIGH SCHOOL SCOREBOARD