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Botkins falls to archrival Rockets |
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
By BRYAN CRAFT
Staff Writer
BOTKINS — Coming out ready to play to start the game is essential, and once a team falls behind it sometimes has to play more aggressively to get back in the game.
The Botkins Trojans varsity girls basketball team fell behind early and despite a late rally, lost 49-42 to the Anna Rockets Monday night in Shelby County Athletic League play.
Anna (9-4, 6-2 SCL) used a 9-0 run to start the first period to build a lead they would never surrender. The rest of the quarter was even at four apiece for a 13-4 Rocket lead. The second period went to Anna 12-10 for a 25-14 lead at halftime.
“We’ve struggled competing fourth quarters,” Botkins varsity basketball coach Tom Platfoot said. “I thought for the most part we did a good job of doing that at times — take away the first couple minutes of the game — I thought we did a good job of competing and playing hard.”
Platfoot pointed out the discrepancy between the number of fouls called in the game. Botkins were whistled for 22 fouls to Anna’s nine for the game.
“I don’t know how many fouls were called on us the second half, but nobody can win a ballgame when it’s 18-4 called fouls,” he said. “It’s hard to do and how we got it to within six is a minor miracle with that said.”
“I told the girls it’s not a “W” in the book, but as far as I’m concerned it’s a moral victory because anytime they’re shooting free throws... ticky tack fouls on one end and not on ours, there’s not a whole lot you can do,” Platfoot added.
In the third period, Botkins (4-10, 1-7) opened up with a 12-2 run to get within a point at 27-26. The rest of the way Anna outscored the Trojans 11-5 for a 38-31 lead after three.
“They came out in the third quarter and they wanted to win worse than we did,” Anna varsity coach Jeff Reese said. “They played really hard in that third quarter and brought it close. In the fourth quarter we were able to get in the bonus and hit some free throws to stretch it back out.”
The fourth period was even at 11 for an Anna 7-point win. A critical point in the game came with the Rockets up 41-35, before Anna hit eight straight free throws for a 49-35 lead.
Leading the Trojans on the night were 5-foot-9 senior Nichele Powell with 13 points and 9 rebounds, 5-foot-11 junior center Christie Fullenkamp with 12 points and 4 assists and 5-foot-5 senior Jessica Luthman with 8 points.
The Rockets were led by 5-foot-7 freshman Rebecca Burch with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Six-foot-2 senior center Kelli Barhorst added 11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
See BOTKINS, Page 3B
Botkins shot 17-of-50 from the floor in the game, including 1-of-10 from behind the 3-point line and were 7-of-10 at the charity stripe. Anna shot 15-of-49 from the field, including 1-of-7 from downtown and were 18-of-31 from the foul line.
Anna won the battle of the boards 32-28 and held a 15-11 advantage on the offensive glass. Botkins loss the turnover margin 19-17.
In junior varsity action, Anna defeated the Trojans by a score of 26-23. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 January 2008 )
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