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From the opening tip Friday night, the Immaculata girls’ basketball team enforced its pace.
“We’ve been talking for two days about making sure to control the pace,” Immaculata coach Terry Jordan said. “This rivalry game is about pace and I know the potential Pleasant Ridge has so I wanted to control that pace.”
The Lady Raiders’ full-court pressure sped up rival Pleasant Ridge, disrupting the home team to the tune of just 12 first half points. While doing that, the Lady Raiders built a double-digit advantage and never relented to claim a 48-36 win.
“I don’t know if it was the pressure, I just think we were beating ourselves,” Pleasant Ridge coach Mike Koontz said. “We would get it across half court and then just pass it to nobody. We are in a funk and we need to find a way to get out of it.”
The contest opened with both teams making quick layups. But from there the Immaculata press began to aggravate the PR offense. For the next six and a half minutes, the Lady Raiders would hold Ridge to zero points while posting six of its own.
“The press has been our staple. It’s what makes us go,” Jordan said. “We thought that if we could control Beth and their guards, we had a shot.”
However, a strong finish to the quarter enabled the Lady Rams to cut the deficit to 11-6. To begin the second, the Imac press really started to wreck havoc and the visitors went on an 8-0 push to stretch its lead out to 19-6.
Yet again PR clawed back, this time thanks to mounting Immaculata foul trouble. Still, even with double-digit PR free throw attempts, the Lady Raiders’ advantage sat at 24-12.
“I’m at lost for words just because I know what we can do, but we are not fulfilling our potential,” Koontz said. “The last four games we just haven’t put forth the effort that we can.”
The third quarter saw the Pleasant Ridge offense come alive, throwing in 13 points. Yet the closest the Lady Rams got was eight, thanks to the visitors 11, and at period’s end Imac held a 35-25 edge.
In the fourth, not much changed as neither team could consistently make shots. The lack of offensive execution ultimately made the clock the Lady Raider’s best ally, and Immaculata salted away the 12-point victory.
“It’s the young ones coming in and not falling apart,” Jordan said about the Raiders’ play down the stretch. “I’m always nervous of foul trouble, but the young ones stepped up again for us.”
The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by Lainey Bell with 13 points, followed by Brittany Simek with 10 and Liz Todd added nine. Grace Parker contributed seven, #5 had five and Mary Kate Metivier put in four.
Pleasant Ridge’s high scorer was Beth Doty with 12. Kelsey Carpenter pitched in eight, Ashten Langley six and Jordan Adams five. Lauren Zule finished with three and Holly Ewert two.
From the opening tip Friday night, the Immaculata girls’ basketball team enforced its pace.
“We’ve been talking for two days about making sure to control the pace,” Immaculata coach Terry Jordan said. “This rivalry game is about pace and I know the potential Pleasant Ridge has so I wanted to control that pace.”
The Lady Raiders’ full-court pressure sped up rival Pleasant Ridge, disrupting the home team to the tune of just 12 first half points. While doing that, the Lady Raiders built a double-digit advantage and never relented to claim a 48-36 win.
“I don’t know if it was the pressure, I just think we were beating ourselves,” Pleasant Ridge coach Mike Koontz said. “We would get it across half court and then just pass it to nobody. We are in a funk and we need to find a way to get out of it.”
The contest opened with both teams making quick layups. But from there the Immaculata press began to aggravate the PR offense. For the next six and a half minutes, the Lady Raiders would hold Ridge to zero points while posting six of its own.
“The press has been our staple. It’s what makes us go,” Jordan said. “We thought that if we could control Beth and their guards, we had a shot.”
However, a strong finish to the quarter enabled the Lady Rams to cut the deficit to 11-6. To begin the second, the Imac press really started to wreck havoc and the visitors went on an 8-0 push to stretch its lead out to 19-6.
Yet again PR clawed back, this time thanks to mounting Immaculata foul trouble. Still, even with double-digit PR free throw attempts, the Lady Raiders’ advantage sat at 24-12.
“I’m at lost for words just because I know what we can do, but we are not fulfilling our potential,” Koontz said. “The last four games we just haven’t put forth the effort that we can.”
The third quarter saw the Pleasant Ridge offense come alive, throwing in 13 points. Yet the closest the Lady Rams got was eight, thanks to the visitors 11, and at period’s end Imac held a 35-25 edge.
In the fourth, not much changed as neither team could consistently make shots. The lack of offensive execution ultimately made the clock the Lady Raider’s best ally, and Immaculata salted away the 12-point victory.
“It’s the young ones coming in and not falling apart,” Jordan said about the Raiders’ play down the stretch. “I’m always nervous of foul trouble, but the young ones stepped up again for us.”
The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by Lainey Bell with 13 points, followed by Brittany Simek with 10 and Liz Todd added nine. Grace Parker contributed seven, #5 had five and Mary Kate Metivier put in four.
Pleasant Ridge’s high scorer was Beth Doty with 12. Kelsey Carpenter pitched in eight, Ashten Langley six and Jordan Adams five. Lauren Zule finished with three and Holly Ewert two.
