December 31, 2000

Poor shooting does not stop Columbian win

By Mike Genet
Sports Writer

In a game of poor overall shooting by both teams, Columbian's first half shooting was good enough to give them a 17-point halftime lead and propel them to a 50-27 NOL win over Bucyrus.

While the Tornadoes' 20-of-64 shooting wasn't exactly worldbeating, it was Bucyrus' 9-of-60 performance that was the telling stat.

"We didn't shoot the ball very good and you go to credit that to the Columbian defense," said Bucyrus coach Kris Kowalski.

The Tornadoes made their opponents' misses hurt even more with a 37-27 rebounding advantage.

"We adjusted our defense and I thought we did a nice job of shutting down their scorers," said Columbian coach Larry Kisabeth, whose team maintained second place in the NOL by improving to 5-1 in the league and 6-3 overall. "We started out man-to-man against them, and we thought our switching got to us."

"I was very happy with the defense. The kids really stepped up and did what they had to do."

After Bucyrus (3-6, 2-3) jumped out to a 9-6 lead in the first quarter, the Tornadoes closed the period with a 9-0 run. Alex Miller scored seven of those points, including a three-point play off a feed from Katie Kobelt.

Columbian quickly shot out to a 21-11 lead in the second, prompting Kowalksi to call timeout with 6:21 left. His team got within 22-15, but Columbian closed the period with 13-3 run. Miller again scored seven points in the spurt.

The Tornadoes shot 14 of 28 in the first half, which helped them overcome 10 turnovers in that stretch.

"We got the ball where we thought it had to go (on offense)," Kisabeth said.

Bridget Focht helped spark the Tornadoes to start the third. She converted a pressbreaker into a bucket, then took a Kaila Dunn pass for another. After Mallory Gray scored for Bucyrus, Focht found Miller along the baseline for a layup that turned into a three-point play with 5:00 left.

However, that was the last score of the quarter, as the teams settled into a game of missed shots. Columbian shot 3 of 25 in the third, while Bucyrus was 1 of 17.

In the fourth quarter Bucyrus never got closer than 21 points, while the Tornadoes lead reached as high as 26.

Miller finished with 19 points to top the TC effort. Focht had 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Koblet had 11 points. Cundiff's seven points led Bucyrus.

"At times in the second half we went away from what was really good to us," Kisabeth said. "With the bigger lead we had people playing different positions, so the shot selection wasn't quite what it had to be.

"We'll take it (the win), though. We got a lot quality minutes out of a lot of good kids. That's three games in four days and the kids played with weary legs and we just have to get it together."