GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/2hax06W
Having both lost their season-openers, the Cardinal Huskies and Newbury Black Knights girls knew what they needed to work on harder as they set up a Route 87 battle last week in Newbury.
The Huskies of coach Luke Kruse got the job done well. The Black Knights of coach Carla Richardson fell victim to the same type of game they had in losing to Windham earlier in the week, and the results were predictable.
Cardinal came out on top, 50-26, on the strength of a big first period.
Cardinal jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first minute of the game and expanded it to 9-0 before Hannah Grubbs got the first Black Knights points with 3:40 left in the quarter. The Huskies were never seriously threatened, although the final score does not truly reflect the intensity in the action of both teams.
“The No. 1 thing I tried to emphasize to the girls tonight is to be patient, make the extra pass or two when we have the ball, and we had spurts tonight when we did a really good job of doing it,” Kruse said. “We were not sharp in our opening game, so it was good to see us play like we are capable of tonight.
“We communicated well, we got the ball to open spots much of the time, and we were aggressive all night long. That is a key for us.”
Newbury turned the ball over 26 times in the game, and when you turn the ball over, you don’t get shots, which showed up in the final numbers in a huge way to Cardinal’s advantage.
“We’re a predominantly guard team,” Richardson said. “We must take care of the ball, and we got off to a bad start at Windham with that — and it happened again tonight.”
Of the 26 Black Knight turnovers, 21 came in the first half and 11 in the first period. Once in a 15-2 hole after the first quarter, they never could recover.
“This was a lot like our first game,” said Hannah Grubbs, who had 11 points.
Eight of the 12 players on the Black Knights roster scored, but only Grubbs had more than three points.
“We just weren’t ready to play at the start,” Grubbs said. “We did much better in the second half, but we need to work harder to get going early to win games.”
One key component for Newbury altered things in a hurry with 1:03 left before halftime: Newbury’s Maggie Kolenic drove to the hoop on the right side after taking a pass from Mallory Jacobs and scored. Ending the play, Kolenic landed poorly on the drive to the hoop, fell in a heap under the basket, and was forced to sit out the rest of the game. Her absence was felt.
“Maggie is our spark on the court,” Richardson said. “She hustles all the time, and defensively, we always put her on the other team’s dominant ball handler and scorer because she is quick and moves well in both directions.
“We’re not sure how badly she is hurt now, but we will miss her. Once we get the ball, we need to make better decisions and not panic like we have in the first two games now.”
The Huskies, as expected, were led by senior guard Delaney Leichtman, with 15 points on five of 11 shooting from the floor, regular drives into the paint and ball distributions.
She was aided by Camille Cummins, who hit four of five shots in that first period on her way to 10 points in the opening.
The Huskies had a 25-8 halftime edge and held on down the stretch after Newbury figured things out a bit more.
Eight of the 11 Cardinal players scored, and a key to future successes for Kruse showed up in that seven of his players had assists. They had help on half of their 20 buckets.
“Our motto is always defense first,” Leichtman said. “We changed up some of the things we did defensively and it worked, and I think we have a solid five-man starter unit that can shoot the ball well, too. Camille came up big to get us going, and we played solid defense all night.
“It’s always important, too, to get everybody involved in the game every time out. We had everybody get into the stats tonight, which means we are moving with or without the ball and looking to work as a team, which thrills me. We worked hard to fix things we didn’t do well the other night.”
Both teams hustled the entire way, but the Huskies finished plays better at both ends of the floor, and it paid off for a win.
GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/2hax06W