Shorthanded L.moreland tops Faith
Lower Moreland, without two of its starters and its first player off the bench, had trouble putting in baskets throughout the night, but it didn’t matter.
The Lady Lions were able to come up with enough offensive rebounds and putback baskets that they had no problem putting up enough offense to come out on top.
Thanks to strong efforts from Lauren Killion and Jess Dranzik, Lower Moreland was victorious, winning 41-31 over Faith Christian (also the ‘Lions’) in a Bicentennial League meeting at Faith Christian Academy on Monday night.
With Bridgette Alexander, Demi Morganstein and Colleen Hagan all out with injuries, Lower Moreland needed others to step up.
“The girls were huge tonight,” Lower Moreland coach Rich Becker said. “We were missing two varsity players and our first girl off the bench, so girls who usually don’t play had to and it was great for them tonight. Jess (Dranzik) did a nice job on the offensive boards and I think Lasell Campbell did a great job shutting everyone down.”
Lower Moreland (11-2, 7-1), which has now won four games in a row, had more than double the amount of offensive rebounds that Faith Christian (2-6) had, and also never trailed, leading by seven points or more for the entire second half.
Thanks to some solid free throw shooting and a couple of baskets from Killion, Lower Moreland was able to go up 10-2 in the first quarter. Faith Christian never recovered from the early deficit, despite a solid game from Rachel Shive and Monica Ervin.
“We played well, but we just took some shots that we should’ve made and I think the difference is that they (Lower Moreland) shot better,” Faith Christian coach Dale Moe said. “The girls played with a lot of heart and stayed in the game. We’re young and we’re getting better and I think the wins are going to come. It’s only a matter of time if they play hard like we did tonight.”
Shive led Faith Christian with 14 points (10 in the second half), while Ervin finished with eight.
Lower Moreland was led by Killion’s 14 points, while Dranzik added 12 points and nine rebounds. Campbell added seven points, while Kaley Przybylinski finished with six.
“I think a lot of our success was because of the re-
bounding and offensive putbacks,” Becker said. “We didn’t have a lot of continuity with the backups in there, but they did enough on defense to box out and we tried to switch defenses on them so they couldn’t get any rhythm going. I was very happy with the way the girls played tonight.”
Lower Moreland has now won seven of its first eight Bicentennial League games.