Sunday, December 24, 2000

Calvert falls in Liberty-Benton tourney

By Mike Genet
Staff Writer

FINDLAY - Van Buren used a strong defense in overtime to overcome poor shooting and a large rebounding deficit, outlasting Calvert, 60-52, in the consolation game of the Liberty-Benton Holiday Tournament.

In the extra period, the Black Knights (4-2) didn't give up a single point to the Senecas (5-3), who had made a late run in the fourth quarter to tie the game and force overtime.

"Did we really (not give up any overtime points)?" Van Buren coach Rick Longbrake said. "I didn't realize that. We did a little bit better, kind of got a little adrenaline there and started to run the floor and got a bucket."

That one bucket was Casey England's hoop 23 seconds into overtime. From then on the Black Knights hit 6-of-8 free throw attempts to seal the victory.

"Another overtime game, the girls played hard tonight," said Seneca coach Jim Kuhn, whose team fell to Liberty-Benton Friday night, 58-54, in OT. "Van Buren also had a tough game (the night before), but it looked like they had a little more gas than we did. Rick's got a lot of good girls."

The final margin matched the game's largest lead, as Van Buren used a 9-2 run in the second quarter to go up 25-17. Kuhn called timeout with 2:33 left before the intermission, and it seemed to help, as his team inched back to 30-25 by halftime.

Laura Kuhn scored nine of her team-high 21 points in the third quarter as the Senecas pulled to within 42-40 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Black Knights appeared to have set themselves up for a win when Tyler Faine drained a baseline jumper to make it 51-46 with 3:06 left, but Kuhn called timeout and again his team responded.

After Nichole England's free throw raised the lead to six, Sabrina Seitz drilled a 3-pointer to slice the deficit in half with 2:37 remaining. Then with 1:13 left, Kristen Kastner made two foul shots to pull Calvert within one. They got that point when Andrea Weber made a steal, was fouled, and split a pair of foul shots. Laurie Ehrenfried got another steal for Calvert, who called timeout with 51.1 seconds left, but Weber's jumper from the left wing was off.

Van Buren had a last chance to prevent overtime, but Nichole England's three-pointer bounced away.

Fortunately for the Black Knights, it was Calvert who had the shooting woes in overtime. Van Buren's strong defensive effort (the Black Knights induced 21 turnovers) helped overshadow poor shooting (20-of-76 from the field and 17-of-30 at the free throw line) and the Senecas' strong rebounding (53-35 advantage).

"We struggled boxing them out," Longbrake said of the Senecas. "They're a lot bigger than us."

"Oh yeah (I'd wish we'd have scored at the end)," Kuhn said. "That's the way it goes. They just took the ball a little more aggressively and our girls didn't know how to handle that.

"I think we lost our legs and ran out of gas at the end, but the girls didn't quit."

Nichole England, who made the all-tournament team, finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Black Knights, while Casey England finished with 15 points. Freshman Tyler Faine added 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Kuhn was also an all-tournament honoree, and she backed her scoring with nine rebounds. Seitz finished with 10 points. Carrie Weber was the top rebounder with 12, while Kastner (eight points) pulled down 11.

"I think Laura Kuhn's finding her own on the court, but we've got to get some other girls to step up," Kuhn said. "If we get five girls coming in there at the same time playing we'll be all set.

"We've got to focus in now on conference play in the MAL and see which teams are stepping up for good tournament play."