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The St. Mary’s Colgan girls held a 18-16 lead on the Girard Trojans after one quarter, aided by a 8-0 scoring flurry in the middle section of the quarter.
In the second quarter, however, Girard applied the defensive pressure on the young Panthers and built a 30-20 halftime advantage en route to a 61-46 win Friday night on Homecoming at Ted R. Taylor Gymnasium.
“Tonight, I really feel like we played our best halfcourt defense all year,” Girard head coach Brad Herlocker said. “There’s been games where I felt like we played really good fullcourt defense and that fullcourt defense has caused turnovers. It has allowed us to win some basketball games early in the year. Tonight, I felt we just played really good, solid halfcourt defense and they made some mistakes in the halfcourt.”
Girard junior guard Hadyn Herlocker and senior forward Jordan Davied were on their games Friday night, but senior forward Danica Kelly made Colgan pay with several inside baskets on pinpoint accurate high-low entry feeds by Herlocker or transition opportunities set up by Girard forcing Colgan turnovers or breaking the Colgan press.
“This is her third game back and we’ve been slowly trying to work her (Kelly) into game shape,” Coach Herlocker said. “She’s definitely a major difference-maker for us and opens some things up for all of our players. She had a very nice game.”
Colgan trailed 38-28 in the third, after Brandee Main drained her second 3 of the quarter. Then, Girard responded with seven consecutive points — Hadyn Herlocker for two on a drive, Kelly layup on a pass from Herlocker and Herlocker stepped back for a 3-point shot at the buzzer — to lead by 17 after three, 45-28.
Hadyn Herlocker led all scorers with 22 points, as she made 7 of 9 free throws. Kelly scored 18 on eight baskets and 2 of 2 free throws. Davied contributed 13 points. Hope McLeod and Carly Heatherly each had four. Girard extended its CNC League winning streak to 47 games.
“As far as an overall look at both the offensive and defensive end, I think we probably played our best game of the year so far,” Coach Herlocker said.
Main led Colgan with 14 points, half of her total scored in the third. Freshman point guard Alex Minton added 12 and sharpshooter Taylor Bolinger reached double figures on her 3 at the buzzer, scoring 11 points on three 3-pointers.
Girard (11-3, 2-0 CNC) plays a nonleague game Monday against Webb City, Mo., before returning to CNC action next Friday night against Baxter Springs. Colgan (7-4, 1-1) plays Southeast on Tuesday.
The St. Mary’s Colgan girls held a 18-16 lead on the Girard Trojans after one quarter, aided by a 8-0 scoring flurry in the middle section of the quarter.
In the second quarter, however, Girard applied the defensive pressure on the young Panthers and built a 30-20 halftime advantage en route to a 61-46 win Friday night on Homecoming at Ted R. Taylor Gymnasium.
“Tonight, I really feel like we played our best halfcourt defense all year,” Girard head coach Brad Herlocker said. “There’s been games where I felt like we played really good fullcourt defense and that fullcourt defense has caused turnovers. It has allowed us to win some basketball games early in the year. Tonight, I felt we just played really good, solid halfcourt defense and they made some mistakes in the halfcourt.”
Girard junior guard Hadyn Herlocker and senior forward Jordan Davied were on their games Friday night, but senior forward Danica Kelly made Colgan pay with several inside baskets on pinpoint accurate high-low entry feeds by Herlocker or transition opportunities set up by Girard forcing Colgan turnovers or breaking the Colgan press.
“This is her third game back and we’ve been slowly trying to work her (Kelly) into game shape,” Coach Herlocker said. “She’s definitely a major difference-maker for us and opens some things up for all of our players. She had a very nice game.”
Colgan trailed 38-28 in the third, after Brandee Main drained her second 3 of the quarter. Then, Girard responded with seven consecutive points — Hadyn Herlocker for two on a drive, Kelly layup on a pass from Herlocker and Herlocker stepped back for a 3-point shot at the buzzer — to lead by 17 after three, 45-28.
Hadyn Herlocker led all scorers with 22 points, as she made 7 of 9 free throws. Kelly scored 18 on eight baskets and 2 of 2 free throws. Davied contributed 13 points. Hope McLeod and Carly Heatherly each had four. Girard extended its CNC League winning streak to 47 games.
“As far as an overall look at both the offensive and defensive end, I think we probably played our best game of the year so far,” Coach Herlocker said.
Main led Colgan with 14 points, half of her total scored in the third. Freshman point guard Alex Minton added 12 and sharpshooter Taylor Bolinger reached double figures on her 3 at the buzzer, scoring 11 points on three 3-pointers.
Girard (11-3, 2-0 CNC) plays a nonleague game Monday against Webb City, Mo., before returning to CNC action next Friday night against Baxter Springs. Colgan (7-4, 1-1) plays Southeast on Tuesday.
Colgan boys 62, Girard 46
Girard senior Zach Murdock helped the Trojans stay in the game for the first half, scoring 10 points, blocking a couple shots and helping keep Colgan post Dyson Dechant in check with only four points. Colgan led 33-27 at the half.
Dechant scored four consecutive points after halftime, Girard scuffled offensively with only four points in the third and Colgan senior guard Christian Smith knocked down a 3 at the buzzer for a 44-31 lead after three.
“We tried to get our guys to concentrate on guarding them 1-on-1 and not letting them get to the basket,” Colgan head coach Wayne Cichon said. “If you look at the first-half shot chart versus the second-half second chart, most of their shots in the first half were layups and in the second half, we were making them shoot jump shots. That was a big factor and we were getting rebounds.”
C.J. Russell opened the fourth with his second basket of the night and Zach Smith effectively broke the back of the home team with seven consecutive points on an old-fashioned three-point play and an four-point play due to a personal foul and technical foul combination. Within a stretch of the fourth, Colgan fouled out key Girard players Cody Grilz and Dillon Walsh. After the four-point play, Colgan led 53-33.
Four Colgan players ended in double figures. Zach Smith led the Panthers with 17 points, his twin brother Christian Smith had 12, Sam Gilbert 11 and Dechant 10. Austin Barone added five points.
“Barone had a nice floor game tonight and made some shots for us,” Cichon said. “He played a good all-around game. Sam Gilbert had a tremendous game, floor game, leadership, knocked down some early jump shots, took the ball to the basket when we needed him to and defensively, got some steals. Both players playing like that give the other kids confidence.”
Murdock and Trenton Stolte each scored 12 points for Girard.
Colgan (10-3, 2-0 CNC) play Southeast on Tuesday and Girard (6-9, 0-2) hosts Baxter Springs next Friday.
Girard girls 61, Colgan 46
SMC 18 2 8 18 — 46
GHS 16 14 15 16 — 61
COLGAN (46) — Brandee Main 5 2-5 14, Alex Minton 4 2-2 12, Taylor Bolinger 4 0-0 11, Mariah Klenke 1 2-6 4, Nichole Kolarik 1 1-2 3, Katie Kolarik 0 2-2 2. Totals: 15 9-17 46.
GIRARD (61) — Hadyn Herlocker 7 7-9 22, Danica Kelly 8 2-2 18, Jordan Davied 5 3-5 13, Hope McLeod 1 2-2 4, Carly Heatherly 1 1-2 4, Hannah Jones 0 0-1 0. Totals: 22 15-21 61.
Turnovers — SMC 19, GHS 12.
Colgan boys 62, Girard 46
SMC 19 14 11 18 — 62
GHS 15 12 4 15 — 46
COLGAN (62) — Zach Smith 5 7-7 17, Christian Smith 5 1-4 12, Sam Gilbert 4 2-3 11, Dyson Dechant 4 2-5 10, Austin Barone 2 0-2 5, C.J. Russell 2 0-0 4, Christian Valdivia 0 3-5 3. Totals: 22 15-26 62.
GIRARD (46) — Zach Murdock 5 2-5 12, Trenton Stolte 6 0-0 12, Nicholas George 2 1-2 5, Cody Grilz 2 1-2 5, Devin Alters 2 0-0 4, Dillon Walsh 1 1-3 3, Hunter Peak 1 0-0 3, Kyle Eckelberry 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 20 5-12 46.
Turnovers — SMC 8, GHS 12.
