The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Fast start fuels Eagles
Avon jumps to 12-0 lead, holds off comeback by plucky Amherst squad
Looking to take the season series after defeating Amherst on Dec. 2, Avon came out strong and bounced back after a loss over the weekend at Lakewood to claim a 44-34 win on Jan. 17.
Coming out with intensity and poise on defense, Avon
jumped out to a 12-0 lead to open the game before Amherst knew what hit it.
“I know we were disappointed with our last game against Lakewood and we had a tough loss and we weren’t able to execute when it came down to it. so I
know this past week we’ve been working really hard to focus on execution offensively, but also to get stops defensively,” Avon coach Meghan Larrick said. “As you see, our defense basically runs our offense. If we’re playing good defense, we’re scoring. We get a little bit stagnant if we’re not playing good defense because sometimes we go for long periods of time without being able to put the ball in the basket.
“Our goal was just to come out, be aggressive when we attack and hopefully come out with the momentum and I think we did a good job of that.”
Getting into the defense
early, junior Elizabeth Flynn, who finished with a game-high 15 points, said she and her teammates got into a rhythm and stuck to what they know best to open the game up.
“Our press, we were getting a lot of stops, so it helped us to pick up our intensity right away,” Flynn said. “We were scoring and stopping them from scoring, so it was a fast start for us, which helped us get a good lead.”
After getting stop after stop mixed with four turnovers, the run had to be put to a stop as Amherst got its legs going and started to make better decisions with the ball. Closing in on the Avon lead, Amherst slowly crept back into this one and by halftime the Eagles’ lead was trimmed to 21-12 at the break.
That’s when the Comets got into the game.
Opening up the second half on a 16-5 run, Amherst saw its biggest lead, 28-25, midway through the third quarter. But, as hard as the Comets fought, coach Kevin Collins said his young team just spent too much energy to get back into this one and they could not maintain it.
“It was just energy. We just told our girls that we didn’t come out with that energy that we know we can in first half and we played a terrible first half,” Collins said. “We dug ourselves a hole and it took everything we had to get out of that hole and we did it. We got back. We got a lead. But I don’t think we had a whole lot left after that. I think we used everything we had trying to get back to that point and then we were running on fumes.”
Weathering the storm of the Comets’ run, Avon took back control, thanks in large part by senior Maggie Beatty. From that point on the Eagles allowed only six points the rest of the way out by the Amherst offense.
“Our defense is driven by senior Maggie Beatty. I know that she’s out there and we always give her the challenge of guarding the biggest threat offensively from the opponent,” Larrick said.