BELLVILLE – Six minutes. 360 seconds. Nine Madison turnovers in 10 possessions and a 14-0 Clear Fork run.
That was the difference Thursday night as the Lady Colts stormed to a huge lead and then held off a furious Lady Rams late rally in a 49-39 Ohio Cardinal Conference girls’ basketball game.
Clear Fork (4-2, 1-1) used the first six minutes of the second quarter to expand a 13-6 first quarter lead into a 27-6 edge before Madison (3-3, 1-1) earned its first basket of the period with just 2:09 left before halftime.
“We knew who we wanted to cover up and whose touches we wanted to limit,” Clear Fork coach Heidi Roush said. “And I think our girls did a nice job of getting their hands in the passing lanes.”
Madison coach Brian Davis agreed, but also pointed to the absence of senior guard Kendall Bertoch, an outside sharpshooter who suffered a badly injured knee in a win against Ontario on Saturday.
“Kendall is our sparkplug off our bench. She is our zone buster. We had some girls in positions tonight they are not used to being in. We knew what (Clear Fork) to expect. We knew what was coming. We just didn’t execute. We didn’t penetrate the zone like we can,” Davis said.
LATE RALLY: Still down by 18 point into the fourth quarter at 41-23, Madison turned up the heat with fullcourt pressure. Clear Fork committed nine turnovers in the period and Madison senior post Mekaila Grose scored nine of her 21 points to lead a Lady Rams’ rally as Madison outscored the hosts, 16-8, in the fourth.
Madison closed to within 45-39 with 38 seconds left before Clear Fork senior Madilyne McDonald and junior Montana Walker each hit two foul shots to close the game out.
“We had a stretch where we stopped running our offense,” Roush said. “Madison is a very physical team and that has been a weakness for us. Once the girls realized what kind of a game it was going to be, we settled in. We were lucky to win by 10 points.
“I told the girls it was a good experience. We had some kids step up. But it just wasn’t good enough in the fourth quarter,” she said.
With a bench weakened by the absence of two normal varsity players, Davis said his Lady Rams could not afford to press earlier.
“The effort (in the fourth quarter) was obviously there,” Davis said. “Our girls were getting after it. But when I look down the bench and see only eight usual varsity players, we couldn’t afford to press much earlier. If we did and got some girls into early foul trouble, it would had been even more difficult.”
BALANCED SCORING: Clear Fork had balanced scoring with two players in double figures and five with seven or more points.
Senior guard Deijah Swihart, recently honored as an All-American high school soccer player, led the Lady Colts with 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half. She was slowed by foul trouble in the second half and fouled out with 1:56 left in the game.
“Deijah had her shots early and then wanted to get everyone else into the game with her passing,” Roush said. “It’s great that she does that but sometimes she just needs to keep taking the shots.”
Walker added 10 points for Clear Fork. Seniors Morgan Bailey and Erika Farst each had eight and McDonald added seven.
Grose, who dominated the inside for the Lady Rams, was the only Madison player in double figures, including 13 of 16 at the foul line. Junior Regina Zehner added seven.
UP NEXT: Both teams now have a bit of a holiday break. Clear Fork travels to OCC power West Holmes on Dec. 27. Madison is at Lexington that same day in another OCC clash.
