Blade
01-05-2010, 07:20 AM
Indians use big second half to beat Tigers for second time in a week
By Marion Valanoski
For The Daily Item
COAL TOWNSHIP -- Deja Vu again this was not and yet you can't discount the fact it was a victory.
After playing a tantalizing semifinal game in the Knights of Columbus Holiday Tournament that went down to the wire last week, Shamokin Area and Southern Columbia matched up again Monday in a regular season contest. And while the end result was the same, both teams would agree the level of performance lacked in consistency.
The Indians bounced back after stubbing their toes against Milton on Saturday by combining an opportunistic defense with outstanding foul shooting in the fourth quarter to down the Tigers 56-45.
Old reliable, Tara Sabotchick (5 points), and the resurgent senior, Tara Gonzalez (4), combined for nine of Shamokin's 12 points in the final stanza to fight off the Tigers, who managed to stay close but could not muster enough defensive stops to rally past their hosts.
"We're struggling right now to find the chemistry we exhibited in our first three games of the season," Indians coach Bill Callahan said. "I can't put a finger on it right now but we are allowing teams to stay within striking distance, and it's my job to figure out what's not clicking and get it straightened out."
The opening quarter found both teams doing plenty of running but not much scoring until Gonzalez and Hannah Martin drilled back-to-back three pointers, only to have Cynthia Adams collect four points and Ali Oley drain a trey for an 8-8 stalemate.
Gonzalez converted one of two foul shots and Martin rebounded a miss for two points to put Southern down after eight minutes, 11-8.
Cassie Grow provided the offensive spark in the second period with five points to help Shamokin go up on the scoreboard 21-18, while the Tigers -- despite 3-pointers from Kayla Lavella and Oley -- managed to stay close until Mary Kate Kelley hit a jumper and Sabotchick collected a trey to provide the home team with a 26-22 halftime lead.
"Our size hurt us even though we battled Shamokin on the boards, but we turned the ball over too many times in situations where we could have controlled the momentum," Southern coach JoEllen Gallinot said. "There was no offensive consistency on our part."
The Indians managed to maintain a four-point margin for most of the third period before Summer Reigle and Grow recycled missed shots into baskets and Gonzalez added a three-pointer that extended the advantage to double digits after three quarters, 43-33.
In the fourth period, the Indians were able to force the Tigers into turning the ball over with patience and pressure, and despite tallying just one field by Sabotchick, contnued to pull away with torrid shooting at the charity stripe.
"We tried playing uptempo and being more patient in selecting our shots and yet there were too many easy misses that we can't continue to have as the year goes on," Callahan said. "Southern is a good team and played hard, but we also gave up too many scoring opportunities that could have given us some breathing room. I'll take the win but we have to look back and see what we were doing right early and apply that to our game performances now."
Sabotchick led the winners (6-2) with 14 points and nine rebounds, followed by Gonzalez's 14. Grow chipped in with 11 points.
The Tigers (3-5), who have lost five in a row, were paced by Adams with 14 points and 12 boards. Samantha Fraley chipped in with a game-high 15 rebounds and Lavella added 10 points.
By Marion Valanoski
For The Daily Item
COAL TOWNSHIP -- Deja Vu again this was not and yet you can't discount the fact it was a victory.
After playing a tantalizing semifinal game in the Knights of Columbus Holiday Tournament that went down to the wire last week, Shamokin Area and Southern Columbia matched up again Monday in a regular season contest. And while the end result was the same, both teams would agree the level of performance lacked in consistency.
The Indians bounced back after stubbing their toes against Milton on Saturday by combining an opportunistic defense with outstanding foul shooting in the fourth quarter to down the Tigers 56-45.
Old reliable, Tara Sabotchick (5 points), and the resurgent senior, Tara Gonzalez (4), combined for nine of Shamokin's 12 points in the final stanza to fight off the Tigers, who managed to stay close but could not muster enough defensive stops to rally past their hosts.
"We're struggling right now to find the chemistry we exhibited in our first three games of the season," Indians coach Bill Callahan said. "I can't put a finger on it right now but we are allowing teams to stay within striking distance, and it's my job to figure out what's not clicking and get it straightened out."
The opening quarter found both teams doing plenty of running but not much scoring until Gonzalez and Hannah Martin drilled back-to-back three pointers, only to have Cynthia Adams collect four points and Ali Oley drain a trey for an 8-8 stalemate.
Gonzalez converted one of two foul shots and Martin rebounded a miss for two points to put Southern down after eight minutes, 11-8.
Cassie Grow provided the offensive spark in the second period with five points to help Shamokin go up on the scoreboard 21-18, while the Tigers -- despite 3-pointers from Kayla Lavella and Oley -- managed to stay close until Mary Kate Kelley hit a jumper and Sabotchick collected a trey to provide the home team with a 26-22 halftime lead.
"Our size hurt us even though we battled Shamokin on the boards, but we turned the ball over too many times in situations where we could have controlled the momentum," Southern coach JoEllen Gallinot said. "There was no offensive consistency on our part."
The Indians managed to maintain a four-point margin for most of the third period before Summer Reigle and Grow recycled missed shots into baskets and Gonzalez added a three-pointer that extended the advantage to double digits after three quarters, 43-33.
In the fourth period, the Indians were able to force the Tigers into turning the ball over with patience and pressure, and despite tallying just one field by Sabotchick, contnued to pull away with torrid shooting at the charity stripe.
"We tried playing uptempo and being more patient in selecting our shots and yet there were too many easy misses that we can't continue to have as the year goes on," Callahan said. "Southern is a good team and played hard, but we also gave up too many scoring opportunities that could have given us some breathing room. I'll take the win but we have to look back and see what we were doing right early and apply that to our game performances now."
Sabotchick led the winners (6-2) with 14 points and nine rebounds, followed by Gonzalez's 14. Grow chipped in with 11 points.
The Tigers (3-5), who have lost five in a row, were paced by Adams with 14 points and 12 boards. Samantha Fraley chipped in with a game-high 15 rebounds and Lavella added 10 points.