Knight defense dooms East Mills
MALVERN - Fremont-Mills’ defense proved to be its best offense in a 47-21 victory over East Mills in Corner Conference girls basketball last Tuesday in Malvern.
The Knights (3-0 overall, 2-0 in the Corner Conference) struggled to find their own shooting touch on the offensive end but countered with a smothering, full court man-to-man defense that held the Wolverines (2-2 overall, 1-2 in the conference) to just eight first half points and one field goal the final 12 minutes of the opening half.
“We want to make other teams feel uncomfortable at all times,” said Fremont-Mills coach Rod Williams of his team’s defense after the game.
“I think as we mature throughout the season and get in better condition and go seven and eight girls deep in the game and there’s no drop off, you’ll see us continue to score. I told the girls we need to score 60 points per game.”
The opening few minutes saw an “uncomfortable” start for both teams offensively. After four minutes the Knights led just 8-6. But that’s when the Knights’ defense turned it up a notch. Picking up the Wolverine ball-handlers full-court, F-M forced four turnovers in a span of six possessions to close the frame on a 5-0 run.
The second quarter saw more of the same as the Knights went on a 15-2 run in the quarter. From the 4:02 mark of the first quarter to the halftime buzzer, the Wolverines were limited to just two points.
The Knights led 28-8 at half. With better shooting, Williams said, the Knights might have pulled away sooner.
“I don’t think we shot it well,” Williams said. “I’m not taking anything away from them. I was just disappointed in our shooting and missed layups. That can’t happen against good teams. I told them (in the locker room) on a 1 to 10 scale, our energy level at 7.5. Everything else was below that.
“When you play high intensity at both ends you exert a lot of energy on defense and the offense suffers. We can’t do that against good teams. Our offense has to have the same energy.”
The Wolverines never got closer than 20 points over the final two quarters in dropping their 10th straight game to their rivals from Tabor.
Macy Williams led the Knights with 16 points. Andrea McClary added 13 and Taryn Williams 10.
The Wolverines were paced by Zena Courtier’s 11 points.