ONTARIO – If Jayde Niss and Mackenna Papst attend different colleges next year, odds are they will still know what the other is doing.
That’s how well those two must know each other.
After helping the Ontario girls soccer team deep into the post-season tournament the last few seasons, the lone seniors on the Lady Warriors basketball team aim to do the same on the hardcourt.
They got off to a good start Saturday night in a 54-42 win against Lexington in the season opener for both teams.
“We only have those two seniors and we expect them to be our leaders on the floor,” Ontario coach Sue Homan said. “We trust them to help get the younger players into the right positions on the floor.”
Papst finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while Niss had eight points, six rebounds, eight steals and three assists.
The two guards got the Lady Warriors off on the right foot in the first quarter as Ontario built a 19-4 edge after one quarter. Papst had seven points and and Niss had four steals as Lady Lex committed nine turnovers in the first eight minutes.
Lexington coach Tom Kathrein, taking over the varsity this season after leading the JV team last year, said he feared a bad start. After the disastrous first quarter, Lady Lex outscored Ontario, 38-35, over the final three quarters.
“It was beyond jitters,” he said. “The girls talked themselves right into it. They talked before the game how nervous they were. We have a lot of younger players and it showed. We dug ourselves too big a hole and we didn’t have a big enough shovel to get ourselves out.”
One key to Ontario’s success was in its aggressiveness in taking the ball to the basket versus Lexington settling for long-range jumpshots. It earned the Lady Warriors 37 trips to the foul line compared to just three for Lady Lex.
“We are not real deep this season. We want the girls to take the ball to the hole so we can earn some foul shots and get our breath, scoring while the clock is stopped,” Homan said, glancing at the stat sheet that showed Ontario hit just 18 free throws (49 percent). “We just need to make more of them when we get there.
“I am very pleased with the efforts of our girls,” Homan said. “I thought we gave 100 percent. We knew we had to take care of the ball and have good shot selection and I think we did a good job of both.”
Ontario committed just 19 turnovers, compared to 35 for Lexington. The Lady Warriors benefitted from the foul line since they hit just 34 percent (16 for 50) from the field. Lady Lex connected on 20 of 53 from the field (38 percent) and two of three from the line.
Making the Lexington job tougher was the fact Kathrein dressed just four varsity-only players against Ontario with seven players stepping up after also playing in the JV game. Despite that, Lady Lex outscored Ontario, 18-8, in the fourth quarter to narrow the 22-point edge the Lady Warriors took into the final period.
“We try to have the girls on the floor for two many minutes,” Kathrein said. “We want to have a good rotation. We want to create more of an uptempo game this year. Our strength is our athleticism and we want to make into a 94-foot game.
“But you can’t win games with 35 turnovers. That is giving the other team far too many extra possessions. It’s not rocket science. We just played frantic tonight,” he said.
In addition to Papst and and Niss, Ontario got 11 points from junior Allie Atkinson, another of the Ontario soccer players.
Lexington had no players in double figures. Senior Kelly Rhodes had nine points and 18 rebounds as Lady Lex held a 46-35 edge on the boards. Senior Alex Fitzpatrick had eight points and nine rebounds.
Ontario hosts Fredericktown on Tuesday while Lexington travels to Willard that same night.
Lexington won the JV game, 30-19. Freshman Courtney Gouge had nine points. Sophomore Taylor Williams added six. Freshman Rachel Miller had eight for Ontario while freshman Brittany McCauley added five.
