Wednesday, December 22, 1999
Slow start puts Calvert in early hole
By Ed Fox
Sports Writer
FINDLAY &emdash; Van Buren made Calvert pay for its turnovers Tuesday in a 68-34 win in the opening game of the Liberty-Benton Girls Basketball Tournament.
The Black Knights, who won the inaugural tournament a year ago, scored 29 points off 29 Calvert turnovers through the first three quarters and raced to its fifth win in as many outings this season.
"We were a little tentative in the first half and didn't play our game," said Van Buren coach Rick Longbrake. "We did a much better job in transition in the third quarter and scoring that many points off their turnovers is a good conversion rate."
Calvert, falling to 3-4, spotted Van Buren a 15-0 lead at the outset as the Senecas didn't get on the board until a rebound bucket by junior Carrie Weber with 1:25 left in the first quarter.
The Black Knights went on to a 17-4 lead at the quarter break and they were still up by 10 (19-9) following a put back by Calvert junior Kristen Kastner with six minutes left before halftime.
That was the start of a 11-2 run which got the Senecas within three (21-18) of Van Buren following a drive to the bucket by Andrea Weber on a nice feed from Laura Kuhn with 1:52 to go before halftime.
But, the Black Knights responded with the final six points of the half with two of the buckets coming off turnovers for a 27-18 lead at intermission.
"They (Van Buren) took the ball down the floor and executed at the start of the game and that's something we didn't do early on," said Calvert mentor Jim Kuhn. "What I liked as a coach was the fact the girls rallied after the slow start. We're not a run-and-gun team and the girls started executing better in the second period and that's how we got back in it."
After the two teams exchanged buckets to start the second half, the Black Knights went on a roll to put the game on ice. They scored 16 straight points to push the lead from nine (29-20) to 25 (45-20) within a three minute span with junior Lindy Hatfield and senior Kristen Mowery doing much of the damage.
Hatfield scored 12 of her game-leading 20 points during the run while Mowery chipped in with six points and several assists leading to scores by Hatfield. Senior Courtney Fennell also knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as the Black Knights erupted for 29 points during the third quarter while holding Calvert to just five which led to a 56-23 advantage heading into the final period.
"Our girls really did a nice job of finding each other and we were able to beat them in transition. Mowery and Hatfield are two of the veterans of this team and they know where each other is on the floor at all times," said Longbrake.
Junior Nicole England also hit doubles for the Black Knights with 11 while Casey England had nine.
The Senecas, who were plagued by 32 turnovers in all, got seven points from Kristen Kastner while Andrea Weber, Laura Kuhn and Carrie Weber each tallied six.
"This is on-the-job training for the girls," said coach Kuhn. "I'm not afraid to mix up different combinations and put various girls on the floor to see what they can do offensively and defensively. Van Buren has a very nice team and they can really hurt you in so many ways. Their shots were really dropping and you could see their confidence grow as the game went on and we were just having a tough time getting our shots to fall."
Calvert will now face New Riegel for the second time in less than a week in tonight's 6 p.m. consolation game at the tournament. Van Buren will meet BVC rival Liberty-Benton for the championship at 7:45 p.m.