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Nemesis Narrows Beats Blues Again In Rematch
The Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team earned a pair of Pioneer District road wins last week before falling at home 44-32 against Narrows and relinquishing its hold of the district regular-season championship.
On Saturday afternoon, the Fighting Blues (16-4 overall, 6-2 district) faced Narrows (14-4, 8-0) in a game that could have forced a tie at the top of the league standings, but PM, plagued by turnovers and foul trouble, lost to the Green Wave for the second time this year to snap a run of four district regular-season titles by the Blues.
“We are going to turn the ball over, but we were trying to make it to the point if we did turn it over, it didn’t lead to points on the other end,” said PM head coach Adam Gilbert, who has seen his teams win nine Pioneer District titles in the last 15 years. “Early on, we did that, but in the third quarter [Narrows] kind of found it.”
The Blues started off well enough, forcing turnovers on the first five Narrows possessions and forcing eight Green Wave miscues in the period. PM turned those errors into 10 points, including a Natalie Mohler 3-pointer to open the scoring and a baseline jumper from Kayleigh Ramsey that gave the Blues a 14-6 advantage after the opening period.
“I don’t think they anticipated that in-your-face effort from us early on,” said Gilbert. “I thought if we came out and played in the half-court and made them work a little bit, things would be different [from the last game], and we did. We were there in the first quarter.”
The game completely turned in the second period, however. Narrows, which handed the Blues a 69-38 in the first meeting between the two teams on Feb. 7 at Narrows, turned the ball over just once in the next eight minutes. Meanwhile, the Blues lost the ball nine times, allowing the Green Wave to open the quarter with a 10-0 run, with Kailyn Jones’s stickback after an offensive rebound giving Narrows its first lead, 16-14, with 4:23 left in the first half.
It didn’t help matters that PM’s leading scorer, Victoria Hamilton, picked up her third foul with 6:18 to play in the second period. That sent her to the bench for the remainder of the half, and the Blues hit just one shot in the second quarter, a basket in the paint from Josie Martinez with 2:22 to play. By the time intermission rolled around, Narrows had turned its eight-point first-quarter deficit into a 22-18 halftime lead.
Hamilton finished the game with 16 points to lead the Blues, but she picked up her fourth foul and was forced to the bench with 2:58 left in the third quarter, and she fouled out with 1:34 left in the game. Mohler and Peira Conner, PM’s other senior leaders, also fouled out in the contest. Mohler and Kayleigh Ramsey each scored four points for PM.
As a result of the foul trouble, Narrows went to the free throw line 24 times in the game, converting 14 of those tries. Karsyn Reed sank 10 of her 12 foul shots and led the Green Wave with 22 points, and Jones added 16 points.
While the foul trouble hurt, it was perhaps the turnovers that did in the Blues. PM finished with as many turnovers, 29, as shots in the game. The Blues ended up shooting a respectable 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the floor, but the turnovers led to 22 Narrows points.
“I think the turnovers hurt a little bit more than the foul trouble,” Gilbert said. “That’s the difference in the game.”
The Blues, who piled up 11 turnovers in the third quarter, went the first three minutes of the second half without a bucket and then endured a drought of more than three more minutes as Narrows took control, expanding its lead to 40-22 heading into the final eight minutes.
The Blues mounted a furious comeback attempt by scoring the first seven points of the fourth, trimming the lead to 40-29 when Hamilton drove the lane for a layup with 3:18 to play. But that was as close as PM would get.
After the game, Gilbert said he told his players, “16-4 is a great year. We’ve got nothing to hang our heads over. It does sting that we didn’t win the district, but I thought our effort today was much, much better than it has been. The last three ball games, we’ve played with that intensity and that effort, and it’s starting to show a little bit. [The year] isn’t over yet. We didn’t accomplish one of our goals, but we move on to the next one. The season is far from over.”
PM 40, EM 32
PM started the week with a 40-32 win at Eastern Montgomery in Elliston last Monday.
Mohler scored 13 points and Hamilton added 11 to pace the Blues. Conner registered six markers, and Ramsey finished with five points.
Olivia Boone totaled a game-high 15 points for the Mustangs (4-16, 3-5). Karsen Underwood notched eight points for EM, and Macie Akers scored seven.
Mohler and Hamilton keyed a big first half for the Blues. Hamilton had all 11 of her markers before the intermission – including eight in the first quarter alone – while Mohler knocked down three 3-pointers across the first two periods as PM led 27-15 by halftime.
The Blues maintained a doubledigit lead for most of the second half, but nine fourth-quarter points from Boone allowed the Mustangs to close the gap late on.
PM 50, CC 27
The Blues rolled to a 50-27 victory over Craig County in New Castle on Friday afternoon.
Hamilton scored 21 points to lead PM to a season sweep of the Rockets (1-17, 0-8). Mohler added 13 points for the Blues, while Conner and Ramsey chipped in eight points apiece.
Brooklyn Cayton led Craig with seven points. Daileigh Donithan recorded six markers for the Rockets, and Maddie Kendall totaled five points.
PM held a slender 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Blues outscored Craig 12-5 in the second period to build up a 19-11 halftime advantage. PM maintained control of the game with a 31-point second half, with Hamilton tallying 15 points after the break.
PM, seeded No. 2 in the district, was slated to play host to a Pioneer District tournament semifinal game last night, with the district championship and consolation game scheduled for Friday. For weather-related schedule changes, visit www.thenews- gazette.com.
