Jays open, close well vs. Bearcats

By Dave Boninsegna, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, January 2, 2007 (3 years, 2 months ago)
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SPENCERVILLE — Getting off to a good start is important for any team to win; when your team can put together a good finish to go along with it, you are most assured of a victory.

That is what happened for the St. John’s Lady Blue Jays on Saturday night in their non-league tilt against the Spencerville Lady Bearcats at the “Walk-In Closet” of Spencerville High School, taking a 23-10 lead after the first quarter and capping off the game with a 24-3 run as they thrashed the ’Cats 70-31.

The guests had three players in double figures, led by Jeanne Bockey, who topped all scorers with 17 markers; Sarah Clark added 15, while Alisha Byrne hit three from long range in totaling 13.

The Blue Jays (9-0) controlled the inside game as well as the perimeter as they shot 7-of-13 from beyond the arc, while hitting 69 percent (29-of-42) from the field. They also caused 31 turnovers.

“When we move the basketball well offensively, we are a pretty good team. We were able to put together some pretty good runs there, hitting the open person and hitting the threes and hitting the transitions breaks,” St. John’s coach Dan Grothouse stated.

Senior Anna Raines was the lone Lady Bearcat (0-10) to reach double figures with 13 points.

“I thought we gave a good effort for the first three quarters. When they got hot at the end of the third quarter, we had no answer for it,” Bearcats coach Jim Baumgartner commented.

The hosts looked as it they were going to gain some control in the second quarter as they held the Blue Jays to just 10 points and went on a 7-0 run late in the stanza. However, the momentum would shift back to the guests when Zefiryn Bryan tossed up a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that found the bottom of the net to give St. John’s a 33-17 edge at the break.

“They took us out of the flow a bit in the second quarter; we were taking shots that were out of our game. Give credit to Spencerville for taking us out of our game,” Grothouse added. “It was set up all night to not allow them to do things but they were able to do things on the inside. Raines did a nice job for them in the low post.”

After the break, the visitors picked up where they started the contest, outscoring the Lady ’Cats 19-8 on the strength of two 3-point shots by Byrne and a long-range jumper by Clark. Bockey added eight of her points in the canto, while the Lady Jays’ pressure caused the Bearcats’ turnover total to climb.

“Bockey and Byrne — we had no answer for them. We tried to balance it out and it worked for us for about three quarters but they started to light it up and we had no answer for them,” Baumgartner added. “We did our best and played with a lot of heart but St. John’s is a great ball club.”

The junior varsity contest was all St. John’s — literally — as the Lady Jays nearly blanked their hosts, coming away with a 31-4 victory.

The Jays visit Fort Jennings tonight.

Spencerville is next in action at Lincolnview Jan. 11.

ST. JOHN’S (70)

Jeanne Bockey 7-3-17, Kim Miller 1-0-2, Sarah Clark 7-0-15, Laura German 3-0-8, Victoria Recker 1-0-2, Brittany Pohlman 2-1-5, Alisha Byrne 5-0-13, Zefiryn Bryan 3-0-7, Shonda Bensman 0-1-1. Totals 29-5-70.

SPENCERVILLE (31)

Kirsten Cox 2-0-4, Amanda Warnecke 1-0-2, Regina Brenneman 1-2-4, Anna Raines 4-5-13, Lauren Suever 0-1-1, Ashley Kill 1-0-3, Hayden Fast 2-0-4. Totals 11-8-31.

Score by Quarters

St. John’s 23 10 19 18 - 70

Spencerville 10 7 8 6 - 31

Three-point goals: St. John’s, Byrne 3, German 2, Clark, Bryan; Spencerville, Kill.

JV score: 31-4 (St. John’s).

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