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The Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team defended its Pioneer District regular-season title by earning a 39-32 home win over Narrows last Wednesday night in Buena Vista.
It was the 13th consecutive win for the Fighting Blues (17-3 overall, 8-0 district), who completed a sweep of the regular-season series with the Green Wave (10-11, 6-2). When the teams met on Dec. 13 at Narrows, PM earned a 48-45 comeback win.
The Blues have won four consecutive regular-season district titles and nine in the last 10 seasons.
With last Wednesday’s win, PM secured the top seed in this week’s Pioneer District tournament, while Narrows (10-11, 6-2) will be the second seed. The Blues had a bye in the district quarterfinals and will play host for the semifinals tonight, Wednesday, at 5:30 p.m. In the semifinals, the Blues will face the winner of Monday’s game between Eastern Montgomery and Highland County. The finals are scheduled to take place at the higher seed on Friday night. For tournament updates, visit www. thenews-gazette.com.
Against Narrows, Natalie Mohler led the Blues with 13 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Victoria Hamilton added eight points, nine rebounds and one steal for PM, while Payton Emore contributed eight points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
In a low-scoring affair in which PM’s offense struggled to get into a rhythm in the first half, the defense shined, collecting 13 steals and forcing 24 turnovers.
PM head coach Adam Gilbert was pleased with his team’s effort defensively, but he noted some of the offensive struggles. “I didn’t think we did a good job attacking the basket,” said Gilbert. “We settled for a lot of outside jumpers in the first half.”
After a physical first half, PM led 19-17 at intermission. However, the final two quarters of play were a different story for the Blues, as they started to find their stride offensively.
“I thought we shot free throws particularly well,” said Gilbert. “Second half, we hit some shots and attacked the basket a little more so than we did in the first half. We were a little bit more aggressive on the defensive end, jumped some passing lanes, and turned them over. I thought when we needed it, our kids buckled down and we were able to execute in the second half.”
PM shot 87.5 percent (14-of-16) from the free throw line and 36.4 percent from the field while holding the Green Wave to 26 percent shooting from the field.
Gilbert said the game plan coming into the matchup was to be aggressive defensively. “Just put as much pressure on them as we could and try to turn them over as much as possible,” he said. “They’ve got four kids that can score, and we knew it was going to be tough coming in.”
Addisen Roberts was an anchor for PM defensively, tallying a gamehigh six steals to go along with four points. Also contributing to the Blues’ effort were Kayleigh Ramsey and Tatyana Turner with four points each. Leading Narrows was Emma Helvey with 11 points, while Karsyn Reed added 10 points, five rebounds and four steals. Brooklyn McCroskey paced the Green Wave with seven rebounds.
Reflecting on another impressive regular season, Gilbert said he was extremely proud of the effort and determination he has seen from his players all year. “They’ve bought in,” he said. “They’ve been committed. It goes back to June when we started this thing with summer leagues and summer camps. … I’m just super proud of them. They’ve put in a lot of hard work, and I’m happy to see them being rewarded for it.”
