Defense powers Ephrata girls to 50-34 win over Quincy
Ruth Flores, Quincy, left, and Ephrata’s Alessa Soto struggle for the ball, surrounded by Delaey Hagy (5), Krista Jenn (20) and Molly Evenson (32). Ephrata coach Alain Black said the Tigers’ aggressive defense helped them get the 50-34 win.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Quincy’s Chloe Medina, front, works the offense against Ephrata’s Alessa Soto (14).
Chloe Medina, Quincy, center, works the ball against an Ephrata player.
Alessa Soto, Ephrata, pushes the ball down the court.
EPHRATA — The Ephrata girls basketball team used aggressive defense to pull away from the Quincy Jacks and take the 50-34 win Wednesday night in Ephrata.
Tigers coach Alain Black said she prefers a man-to-man defense, but Quincy forced the Tigers to switch.
“We made some defensive adjustments and went into a zone,” Black said. “Very impressed with our girls’ defensive effort. We had the goal of keeping them under 35 (points) and they scored 34.”
Ephrata’s Molly Evenson in particular found the range from the three-point line, and Quincy coach Micalah McCreary said that caused some problems for the Jacks.
“Those threes really killed us,” she said.
“We’re not a big three-point shooting team, so that was big for us tonight, to have Molly get those threes,” she said. “We got quite a few threes from different people; we’re trying to develop that part of our game.”
Ephrata has a substantial height advantage on most teams, Black said, and the Tigers are trying to develop their outside game as well.
“Getting our guards to be comfortable out there, shooting,” she said.
Quincy took an early lead and was ahead 11-9 at the end of the first quarter. Quincy guard Chloe Medina suffered an ankle injury late in the quarter, and McCreary said that slowed the team’s momentum. Medina returned later in the game.
Ephrata went up 14-13 on a putback by Addison Mills with 6:39 left in the second quarter, and the Tigers used good defense to hold the Jacks to five points for the quarter. Ephrata led 21-16 at the half.
Quincy got within one point early in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Medina, and she tied the game at 26 with a three-pointer with about three minutes left in the quarter. But Makenna Wannerberg Lutz hit a three to give Ephrata the lead. Ephrata pushed their lead to 48-30 with about two minutes left in the game.
Both coaches said they were pleased with the rebounding effort. Black said Ephrata’s height helps win the rebounding battle, which the Tigers did, 40-32. McCreary said Quincy held their own, even though they’re shorter.
“I thought we attacked the rim really well,” McCreary said, but the Jacks were only 2-for-19 from the three-point line.
“We were getting the looks. But we need to execute,” she said.
Black said she was encouraged by the way the Tigers took advantage of the pace.
“They were letting us slow down, so let’s just slow down and score out of the offense,” she said.
Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.
