Ontario girls sink Vikings
Tigers improve to 6-2 overall
By Ray Rodriguez
Argus Observer
Friday, December 21, 2007 11:36 AM PST
| |
| Ontario’s Crista Strong (11) dribbles in the open court past Vale’s Sam Kamo (rear) and Heather Barras (right) during Thursday’s non-league girls basketball game in Ontario. The Tigers won, 55-33. |
Ontario - Somebody give Vale head coach Jason Johnson a hug.
After Thursday’s lopsided loss by his Lady Vikings, he really needs one.
Vale committed 18 turnovers, connected on 11-of-45 from the field and shot 11-of-27 from the charity stripe in their 55-33 loss to No. 7 ranked Ontario in non-league girls basketball action Thursday in Ontario.
In fact, the only statistical categories the Vikings won was they out rebounded Ontario 15-13 offensively, and held the 9-3 dead ball rebounding edge.
“I thought I had the answers to get it fixed today, but it didn’t do it,” Johnson said. “They were much more intense than us.”
Ontario jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 11 seconds into the game after a field goal by Kim Boyd.
The Tigers led after eight minutes of play, 15-9 and used an 8-0 run in the first 3:17 of the second quarter to take a 23-9 lead.
“We came out with a lot of intensity and that’s what we wanted to do,” Ontario head coach Jon Buck said. “In a few games we’ve played in the past few weeks, it took a few minutes to get intense. Tonight, I thought we did that pretty well.”
The Tigers led 27-12 with 2:30 left in the half and Vale’s Vanessa Lovell scored a basket at the 2:09 mark to cut the deficit to 27-14 at the break.
Buck said he wanted his team just to play smart in the second half, and they answered his requests with a 17-6 run in the quarter.
The defense also came through holding Vale without a field goal for the first 4:01 of the frame.
Vale’s Thalia Sanchez broke the ice in the second half for the Vikings hitting a short jumper with 3:59 left, which made the score 36-16.
The Tigers increased their lead to 41-20 after a Chris Babij field goal and Alla Dzhidzhiyeshvili added salt to the wound with a buzzer-beating 3-point basket that kissed off the backboard and into the net. Dzhidzhiyeshvili’s basket gave the Tigers a healthy 44-20 cushion heading to the fourth.
In the final stanza, the lead swelled to as much as 50-20 after a basket by Dzhidzhiyeshvili and free throws by Boyd, Stephanie O’Connor and Jenny Yano.
Vale’s Mary Hicks notched a free throw with 5:19 remaining to draw the Vikings within a 50-21 deficit. Hicks went wild in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of her team-leading 11 points in the final stanza.
The Vikings enjoyed a balanced scoring effort with nine different players making field goals, but only Hicks scored more than one.
“Our defense was really good tonight,” O’Connor said. “We put a lot of pressure on them and our posts did a good job on Mary (Hicks). She’s a good post for them. They were able keep her from scoring down low and that helped us get this win.”
Ontario was led by Dzhidzhiyeshvili’s 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while O’Connor and Boyd added 11 points apiece.
Both Yano and Chris Babij scored six points apiece and Mimi Kameshige also joined in on the fun with two points.
Vale (2-7 overall) next travels to La Grande Saturday, while Ontario (6-2 overall) kicks off the Baker tournament Dec. 27 against No. 9 ranked Seaside.
