Lady Jays Basketball
Pierce Fights Hard, but Falls to Cedar
By Elizabeth Furstenau
It was a close game, but the Pierce girls basketball team could not land the win against the Trojans on Friday, January 17, losing in overtime 49-48.
“The girls competed well at the end of a busy week. We executed really well against their main defense but struggled to find consistency against their zone,” assistant coach David Cone states. “We found and made several outside shots. That was encouraging. And we'll keep learning and working to be more efficient. Defensively, we have been solid. As we put it together and limit our unforced mistakes, we're a tough team to beat.”
The game started in favor of the Bluejays with a 16-9 score in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the final score was 24-23 keeping the Jays in the lead.
By the third quarter, the Trojans could not top the Jays. The quarter ended 29-27 in favor of the Bluejays.
The fourth quarter ended with a tied score of 42-42 putting the teams into overtime.
It was close, but the Trojans took the win by one point ultimately ending the game 49-48.
Senior guard Skylar Scholting led the team in points adding 22 points to the scoreboard. Haley Scholting followed her sister with nine points and Hadley Wragge with eight. Abigail Cone contributed five points to the score. Both Emily Endorf and Grace Suckstorf added two points.
“I thought we played really hard and well against a good team,” Endorf claims. “It was a tough loss, but we know what we need to do to improve.”
Catch the Pierce girls in action on Saturday, January 25, when they host Battle Creek.
Bluejays Girls Basketball Overtake the Archangels
By Brody Knox
The girls varsity basketball team pulled through a hard match, defeating the Archangels Defenders, formerly known as Humphrey St. Francis, finishing the game with a hard-earned win of 39-26.
Leading the team to victory with the most points scored, Skylar Scholting made a whopping 11 points. Not too far behind her, Abigail Cone followed with 10, while tying off in the rear, Haley Scholting and Hadley Wragge scored six points each. Emily Endorf and Nora Herian both added three points, making the end score 39.
“Going into the game, we knew that they were going to put pressure on the ball, and they did just that. To combat that, we had to be sure with the ball,” senior Aubrey Hanson enlightens on the challenges the team had faced. “The times that we did, we were able to score, but when we didn’t, it was a close game.”
Cone made 5-6 free throws, tailed by S. Scholting who made 4-12 free throws, followed by Wragge bucketing 2-2 and H. Scholting who made 2-5. Herian (1-2 free throws), and Endorf (1-2 free throws) made up the rear for free throws.
“I would say our biggest area for improvement as a team is offensive efficiency. Our defense does a good job of causing turnovers,” S. Scholting states, ”but we need to do a better job of converting those forced turnovers to points.”
The Bluejays host Battle Creek on Saturday, January 25.
Bluejays Claim Victorious Win Over Lakeview Vikings
By Brody Coulter
The Pierce girl's basketball team played the Columbus Lakeview Vikings Tuesday, January 14, and came away with a solid victory, winning 51-20.
The Bluejays battled through the first quarter scoring 13 to Lakeview’s eight.
In the second quarter, the Jays tallied another 13 points to Lakeview’s two points, pushing Pierce’s lead to 26-10 headed into halftime.
The third and fourth quarters went similarly, with the Bluejays outsourcing the Vikings 12-2 in the third and 13-8 in the fourth, and finally winning 51-20.
“I thought we prepared pretty well,” Emily Endorf, a third year player says when asked how she felt the team prepared heading into the game.
“I thought we did a really good job of finding the open people in our offense, whether it be post, cutters, or a skip pass, which helped us get a lot of good looks,” Skylar Scholting, a fourth year player for the team, says.
Scholting says one area they are always looking to improve is ball control.
“We have gotten better about not turning the ball over as often, but it's always something we can improve on.”
The girl's basketball team heads to play the Summerland Bobcats on Thursday, January 23.
