Lady Sparts yield to Monroe Bearcats second-half pressure

With an intensified defensive effort, the Lady Spartans (4-8 in league, 6- 10 overall) gave the favored Monroe Bearcats a run for their money for two-and-ahalf quarters, but the hosts’ own defensive schemes eventually caused the Sparts to lose their concentration and the game, 54-37, in the local cagers’ only WesCo 4A North contest last week.

“I was very pleased with our defensive effort and execution of the defensive game plan,” said head mentor Dennis Kloke.

“I was also pleased with the offensive execution the first half, but the second half we began to rush and force things as Monroe applied more full court man-to-man pressure.

“That pressure resulted in missed shots, poor execution and key turnovers on our part that led to only five points being scored after we led 32-30 midway through the third quarter,” he said. “Defensively we continued to play tough, but our lack of scoring allowed Monroe to gain the lead, the ‘MO’ (momentum) and, eventually, the game.”

“Getting nine down with three minutes left forced us to make a decision to try to get them to turn the ball over (in order) to give us more offensive possessions. To their credit, Monroe stayed calm and used their quickness to extend their lead.”

Coach Kloke pointed out what he considered the key statistics for the game.

“In the first half we made 10 of our 22 shots. In the second half we made just four of our 24 attempts.

Meanwhile, “we had 12 turnovers in each half while Monroe only had 10 altogether,” he concluded.

Scoring for Stanwood were Rachel Swartz 10, Brenda Bingham 10, Sarah Titus 6, Jade Borseth 6, Samantha Kelleigh 3, and Tarah Murphy 2. Also playing well defensively but not scoring were Kallen Shaughnessy, Kaitlin Johnson, Serenna Duncan, Emily Chappel and Corinne Teichgrab.

The Lady Sparts play two home games this week. Tonight, Tues., Feb. 2, Stanwood plays Marysville-Pilchuck and then on Fri., Feb. 5, Oak Harbor comes to town. Both games will tip off at 7:30 p.m.