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Ramettes hold off charge for 36-32 win |
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Thursday, 31 December 2009 |
By Joseph Bell
ST. MARYS – Despite a lackluster day at the free-throw line, the Johnsonburg Ramettes were able to make the clutch shots down the stretch to hold off rival Ridgway, 36-32, yesterday afternoon in the Elk County Holiday Basketball Tournament consolation game.
Held back by an 11-for-31 performance from the free-throw line, the Ramettes converted three of their last four tries to seal the win.
After back-to-back free throws by Ridgway junior guard Bryton Dybowski with 33 seconds remaining cut the lead to 32-29, the Ramettes responded with consecutive free throws from junior forward Justis Myers, who led all scorers with 12 points, including 10 from the floor.
Ridgway sophomore forward Nicole Breier scored the putback after a three-point miss by the Lady Elkers with 20 seconds remaining to cut the lead to three points. After a traveling call on Johnsonburg senior guard Anna Polaski gave Ridgway the ball back, Lady Elker senior guard Kathy Shirey was fouled and converted one free throw to cut the lead to two points with 15 seconds remaining.
However, Justis Myers found herself open at halfcourt and scored unopposed with eight seconds left to close the door.
Despite falling short, Ridgway head girls basketball coach Glenn Schauer said he felt his team played well.
"The difference in the game was that we didn't make our shots and we had a lot of open shots, a lot of good shots," Schauer said. "We had the open looks and they just didn't go. We played hard and had a good defense.
"Our shooting hasn't been that bad this year."
Despite frequently converting approximately 30 percent of their three-point tries, the Lady Elkers nailed only one shot from beyond the arc as Shirey converted on the first possession of the game.
"We were nowhere near 30 percent though," Schauer said. "At first, their box-and-one defense with the guard on Bekka (Leitzel) threw us off but I think we recovered from that quickly.
"Johnsonburg played a good game and they made a couple more shots than we did, and I think it came down to the foul shots that they made. I was a lot happier with our effort (yesterday) than our game against Elk County Catholic (on Tuesday)."
Even with the victory, Johnsonburg head girls basketball coach Mike Zilkofski said his team was still victimized by turnovers, a trend that cost them Tuesday's game against St. Marys.
"When we have the lead up by three or four, we have to know what to do out there on the floor," Zilkofski said. "They have to foul us and we can't be rushing up the floor.
"We had some traveling calls towards the end of the game and our players have to know their rolls at those points in the game. We'll learn from this game and keep moving on."
Zilkofski was also displeased with his team's free throw percentage, a mere 35 percent.
"We had a lot of missed foul shots and we have to work on those," Zilkofski said. "I hate to take Cody (Anderson) out late in the game because she's a rebounding threat.
"She'll work on that and come back stronger. We have to work on our patience a bit more and we'll go back to the drawing board."
Repeated misses from the field also gave both coaches something to worry about.
"Our shooting percentage was bad and right now, we have no outside threat," Zilkofski said. "Somebody has to step up to make that outside shot and they will."
But defensively, Zilkofski said he was happy with his team's performance.
"The whole purpose of my defense is to take the point guard out of the game. Defensively, I was happy with the way we played," Zilkofski said. "I wish we could anticipate a little bit more with a couple of steals and crosscourt passes, but that's something else that we'll work on.
"We're still young but we're working on it."
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