Lady Mustangs Basketball Team Remains Undefeated
Taken from the Hastings Tribune
by Bailey Morris
December 21, 2009
Battling Blue Hill point for point, Silver Lake girls basketball coach Keith Crowe was confident the 3-pointers would eventually fall.
Once they did, Class D-1 No. 2 rated Silver Lake turned a one-point second-half lead – at which the Mustangs were just 1-of-12 from the 3-point line – into a 14-point advantage en route to a 46-36 win over Twin Valley Conference rival Blue Hill on Thursday, December 17th.
“I know these girls pretty well, and they’re very good 3-point shooters,” Crowe said. “So I knew it was just a matter of time, especially in our gym. I just told them to relax and keep shooting the ball. It was going to go in.”
On a night in which Silver Lake honored its 2008-2009 Class D-1 runner-up team, the Mustangs improved to 4-0. Blue Hill fell to 1-4, with its four losses coming against teams with a combined record of 16-2.
“It’s making us battle tested,” Blue Hill coach Tim Streff said of the start of the season. “You’ve either got to get better or you’re going to get beat up. And we’re getting better. I’m encouraged by that. We’ve been playing better each time out. We’ve got to find a way to win eventually. But as long as we’re playing good at the end of the year, the start of the year doesn’t really matter.
Leading 27-26 with three minutes left in the third quarter, Silver Lake was just 1-of-12 from the 3-point line. Then Bailey Morris hit a 3-pointer to spark a 16-3 run. Blue Hill never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
During that big run, the Mustangs hit four 3-pointers – making 4-of-5 during that stretch. Morris hit two from behind the arc, while Jenna Grabill and Cami Bruckman each hit one.
“This is a big rivalry game for us with Blue Hill,” Crowe said. “I think my girls were a little tight starting out with. I give Blue Hill a ton of credit. They did a great job on us tonight. The girls were a little hesitant on shooting from the outside. Thank goodness a couple of them stepped up and hit some shots.”
Silver Lake was without Morris – its junior point guard – for almost the entire second quarter after she picked up her third foul just 12 seconds in the second period.
But Morris returned in the third quarter and didn’t pick up a foul the rest of the game, sparking the 16-3 run with a 3-pointer – her first basket of the game after going scoreless in the first half.
“That hurts a bunch,” Crowe said of not having Morris for a quarter. “She’s our point guard, and she is a great ball-handler. I like to give her a rest, but I don’t like it when she is in foul trouble and sitting down.”
After Morris’ 3-pointer, Carmi Grigg made a basket to put Silver Lake up 32-26 – its biggest lead of the game up to that point.
Blue Hill answered with a 3-pointer of its own – the Bobcats’ only made one 3-pointer in 10 attempts – to get within 32-29. But Silver Lake responded with a 3-pointer by Grabill. Morris added a layup after a quick steal by the Mustangs to increase the lead to 37-29 going into the fourth quarter.
“We needed something positive to happen there,” Crowe said. “We weren’t shooting the ball very well. When (Morris) his that 3, then everybody kind of picked up.”
Then Silver Lake essentially put the game away with back-to-back 3-pointers by Morris and Bruckman in the first 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, stretching the lead to 43-29.
Bruckman led the mustangs with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“She is a very good basketball player,” Crowe said of Bruckman. “She can shoot outside. She can attack the basket so well. That’s what makes it so hard to defend her. And she’s an excellent defensive player.”
Morris, Grabill, and Kayla Timm each added eight points for Silver Lake.
Streff, who had his team play a 2-3 zone, was happy with holding Silver Lake to 46 points.
“We contested every shot and rebound pretty well,” Streff said. “The big thing was them is getting back defensively and stopping their transition. We did a good job of that in the first half, and in the second half we had a couple breakdowns and they got a couple layups on us.”
“I’m very happy to hold them to 46 points. Most nights we can win a game holding an opponent to 46 points. But they’re a good defensive team. I have no problems defensively.”
Offensively, Kaitlin Kumke led Blue Hill with 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Alyssa Willicott added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Silver Lake held senior guard Madison Coffey, the Bobcats’ leading scorer last year with 13.1 points per game, to just two points – both free throws – on 0-of-10 shooting.
“We know she’s a good shooter,” said Crowe, whose Mustangs are back in action tonight with another TVC game against rival Kenesaw. “We wanted to have somebody on her, not helping off at all.”
Said Streff: “I’m not worried about (Coffey). I thought they did a great job defending her. They were physical with her. They always had a hand in her face. A lot of that was just their defense. They did a great job on her. Her points will come.”
Despite the 1-4 start, Blue Hill has tried to remain positive. The Bobcats were without four varsity players, including two regular starters, Thursday because of injuries and illnesses.
“That’s our only option,” Streff said of remaining positive. “We’ve had too many injuries and sicknesses. We’ve got four varsity girls – two starters – out right now. You’ve got to try to stay positive.”
