Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Quick starters, WRHS girls race past Filer 38-22

Improved Wolverines start season 3-0


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Wood River High School senior guard Alex Lindbloom (4 points, 3 rebounds, 6 steals) had a solid game all over the floor Thursday against Filer. She didn’t hesitate to get down and dirty for loose balls, or to take the ball to the basket. Photo by David N. Seelig

Nothing like getting off to a good start on the basketball court. That's exactly what the Wood River High School girls' varsity basketball team has done in the first quarters of its three early-season games.

And the quick starts—a 35-11 Wolverine edge in first-quarter scoring—have translated into three consecutive wins to start the season for second-year Hailey head coach Mendy Benson. Not bad for a program that started last winter 0-8.

The latest success came Thursday in the 2009-10 home debut on the Hailey floor. Getting 33 points from its guards, Wood River outscored the Filer Wildcats 38-22. In three games, Wood River is averaging 48.0 ppg offense and 27.7 on defense.

Sophomore guards Kaitana Martinez (16 points, 3 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 assists) and Tristin Bowers (13 points, two 3-pointers, 3 boards) led Wood River. It was a career best for Bowers, who had scored just 9 points in her previous 23 varsity games for Wood River.

Benson said, "Tristin was an All-Star last night. She always plays with great heart and intensity, but last night she found her confidence at the varsity level to shoot the ball. It made a huge difference to us."

Indeed, pressure defense led the way for Wood River, with Benson using 11 players to best advantage.

The coach said, "We're definitely a much stronger team and have made some good strides early. My coaching philosophy has always been tough, hard-nosed, intense pressure defense. Now I have the girls who can do that for the most part.

"We're hoping to let our defense be a key to our offense and score some easy points that way. Pressing has opened the game well. We seem to be playing better in the first quarter overall because we're starting the game with a great tone.

"It was hard for me to believe sometimes that I had three or four sophomores on the court. But our fans were awesome—they made for some first home game jitters."

Turnovers plagued both teams in the first quarter, but Wood River escaped with a 4-3 lead at the break on a driving basket by Bowers, from Monica Garceau, and a Martinez steal and transition hoop. Wood River's full court defensive pressure accounted for seven steals in the first period and 20 for the entire game.

Martinez came alive with six points in the second quarter. Wood River shut down Filer's perimeter shooting in the second and built a 16-7 halftime lead when Bowers stole the ball and banked home an incredible half-court shot at the buzzer.

Her 3-pointer seemed to relax a very young Wood River team that was tight in front of the home crowd. Benson said, "It was a huge learning experience for the whole team that they have to relax and just play without letting the environment affect them. The game was probably our worst mental effort so far."

Rebounding was also a Wolverine drawback. The Wildcats with their six seniors led by 6-1 post Natalie Hughes (6 points, 7 rebounds) out-boarded Wood River 17-6 in the first half. The Wolverines did better after the half, out-rebounding Filer 18-8.

Benson said, "Despite our size advantage, we did not rebound well at all last night, but it was improved in the second half after a few words of shall we say half-time 'motivation.' Regardless, it's something we need to work on and I'll take the blame on that. We haven't spent nearly the time we should on rebounding in practice and that's something we'll correct immediately.

"Our post game is coming along. Our post kids have talent, but it's a lot about footwork, positioning and decisions and we'll just get a little better every day."

The hustle of senior guard Alex Lindbloom (4 points, 3 rebounds, 6 steals) sparked Wood River in a pivotal and hard-fought third quarter.

Sophomore Haylee Thompson (2 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) battled for four boards and senior Garceau (1 point, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists) grabbed three off the glass.

Although Wood River built a 24-11 lead after three and finished 16 points ahead of Filer, the Wildcats showed the composure of a veteran team. On Friday, Filer (1-1) went into Twin Falls and whipped Canyon Ridge (0-3) by a 52-42 score.

Benson said," We were also rushing on offense and had a tendency to miss what the defense was giving us. We are trying to play an up-tempo game this year and run the floor. We were successful at times, but Filer did a great job of working the ball on offense and managing the tempo to their advantage. They made us play defense for some long stretches. It wore us out a little and took away pep and energy to run the floor."

It's hard to keep a quality player like Martinez down for long, and Kaitana finished strong with two late hoops and six points in the fourth.

Said Benson, "KT had been ill the past couple of days and I think she was trying a little too hard to live up to her reputation in front of the fans. She started to finally be herself in the fourth. Either way, KT's game has just elevated this season. Even on a not-as-great night she still found a way to be a major contributor."

Other Wood River contributers included Jade Glenn (3 rebounds, 2 blocks), Cheyenne Swanson (2 points, 2 steals) and Allie Hesteness (1 rebound, 1 assist). Senior Kelly Chapman logged some very productive minutes off the bench.

It was a solid team effort.

Benson said, "I've always maintained and preached—thanks to my high school coach—that you focus on playing the game right and the winning takes care of itself.

"It was awesome to win but we need to re-focus on turnovers and rebounding to prepare for tough opponents up ahead. That being said it's always nice to go to school with a 'W' on your back."

Last Tuesday, Wood River built a 16-point halftime lead and cruised to a 56-37 non-conference victory at Wendell. Martinez scored 20 points and Garceau 11. Thompson (7 points, 10 rebounds) also played a big role as Wood River scored in double digits for all four quarters on the road.

Grace Lagodich and Swanson each added six points.

Said Benson, "We played well defensively, were aggressive and matched their physical play. Kaitana had some exceptional offensive moves to the basket and we did a nice job on the offensive glass. It was a great team effort—a good job of playing four consistent offensive quarters."

Wood River played Tuesday at Kimberly (1-0) in a battle of unbeatens and travels to Idaho Falls for a 4A match-up with the Hillcrest Knights Dec. 1. Next home game is Thursday, Dec. 3 with the tough Jerome Tigers (3-1). It will be the first Great Basin Conference game of the season for Wood River.

WOLVERINE NOTES—After starting the last two seasons 0-6 and 0-8, Wood River is off to its best start in 11 years, since the 1998-99 team went 6-0 en route to a 10-14 record—which at that time was Wood River's best record in 19 years. Leading that team were seniors Sarah Kolash, Jill Brown and Debbie Rubel, and junior Rebecca Torresdal. The 1997-98 Wolverines opened 5-0 en route to a 9-13 mark.....This year's start is better than the 2002-03 team that opened 1-2 en route to a school-record 16-7 season, and better than the 3-1 team of 2003-04 that qualified for the state tourney.

Hailey JV nips Filer, moves to 2-1

The game went down to the wire, but the Wood River High School girls' junior varsity basketball team (2-1) nipped the Filer Wildcats 37-35 Thursday night on the Hailey floor.

Sophomore Haillie Taylor (15 points, 5-for-8 free throws) made two clutch free throws with less than a second left to break a 35-35 tie and lift coach Bruce Bowers' Wolverines to their second straight victory.

Wood River jumped to an early lead with a 16-point first quarter and stayed ahead 22-15 at halftime. But Filer rallied on the hot shooting of sophomore Janessa Orban (21 points), who drilled two 3-pointers in Filer's 13-point fourth quarter run.

Other Wolverine scorers were Hunter Thompson and Cookie Benson 8 points apiece, and Emmalie Dion 6. The home team shot 13-for-22 from the charity stripe.

Wood River was coming off a 44-12 road victory at Wendell Nov. 17 with three scorers in double digits—Dion with 12, Thompson 11 and Benson 10. The Wolverines lost 29-23 at Buhl in their Nov. 13 debut.




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