Lady Bearcats Squeak Past Lady Bulldogs

6
Monday, December 4, 2006 – Alliance Times-Herald
SPORTS
Bulldogs Bounce Back Over Blazers, G-Bulldogs
By TAMMY COWARD
T-H Sports Editor
SCOTTSBLUFF — The tables turned for the Alliance
Bulldogs after their opening
loss to the Chadron Cardinals. They bounced back
against Torrington, Wyo., 6954, sending Alliance on to face
manding fashion, 61-35.
Coach Mark Kamerzell agreed
that his team set out to do
what they wanted to do both
offensively and defensively
against Torrington and Gering. Also, he did mention
against Chadron the liking of
the tempo, which the Bulldogs used in their favor in
their final two contests.
Photos by Tammy Coward/Times-Herald Sports
STRONG PHASES — Alliance High’s TJ Peltz, above light
jersey, goes strong to the hoop against two Torrington, Wyo., defenders for two of his 13 points. Also, right, Morgan Mracek
keeps Gering’s Austin Miller in check. AHS’s full court pressure
defense caused many turnovers in their route to a 61-35 win.
Gering in the fifth place game,
where they accomplished an
early season goal — winning
their second game in a com-
“Defensively to give up 38
points in the first half, that is
definitely not where we want
to be (referring to the Chadron
game),” Coach Kamerzell said.
“The tempo of the game was
kind of exactly what we wanted — that’s the type of tempo
we want to play. Now we just
have to a little bit more use to
playing at that tempo both offensively and defensively.
“Our focus all season has
been working hard and playing together. And I think we
did that for the most past —
there where some times
where we didn’t necessarily
play together, but they did always work hard.”
AHS displayed a
balanced scoring attack against Torrington and Gering.
Zach Boness led his
team with 18 points
against the Blazers,
while Conor McGhehey chalked up 18
against Gering.
Alliance
took
charge against their
Bulldog rivals right
away — Conor
McGhehey put the
first points on the
scoreboard with a
coast-to-coast layin,
followed by TJ Peltz’s
backside
layup,
McGhehey landing
another layin, Mason Roberts hitting
from the paint and
Morgan
Mracek
draining a trey from
the right side. Gering
didn’t not contribute
offensively — until
Dillion Broussard hit
a free throw, with 23
seconds left in the
quarter. AHS had total control, 13-1.
From there, the second quarter was
silent until the 5:30
mark when Gering
recorded their first field goal
on T.J. Morrow’s runner.
Next, McGhehey recorded a
steal and the bucket a minute
later and the fast paced Bulldog team was back on track.
McGhehey’s three-pointer
from the right side gave AHS
the 20-3 cushion.
“I think the first game we
kind of ran into a shock,”
Coach Kamerzell stated.
“Chadron was just as fast as
us, just as quick and they
shot the ball really well. We
didn’t and we turned the ball
over too much. But, they really set the mark for what we
wanted to accomplish — and
came against Torrington and
really executed our defensive
pressure. We caused a lot of
turnovers and got a lot of easy
baskets. They played with a
lot of confidence and enthusi-
job and getting themselves
ready to play — caused a ton
of turnovers, played great defense.”
The Bulldogs posted a 2-1
record at their opening tournament, which was an early
goal for the team.
“We didn’t shoot the ball as
well as we did against Torrington, but it’s hard to shoot
in the palace and it’s the third
day and we’re kind of tired,”
Coach Kamerzell noted. “But,
hopefully we can continue
this streak. We wanted to
asm. Then it just kept rolling
today (against Gering). It’s
hard, we played last night and
then to have turn round and
leave Alliance at 9:30 — the
kids were yawning all the way
down so we knew it was going
to be a little bit slower, but I
thought the kids did a great
come out of here at least 2-1
so we’re 2-1, so we’re pretty
happy.”
Defensively the Dawgs
shut Gering down and rolled
onto a 41-19 third quarter
lead and in fourth quarter
everyone seen time on the
floor, as many kids stepped in
and filled the shoes of the
starters — cruising to a 61-35
victory.
“Our philosophy is to play
94-feet of pressure defense
and the kids have really
bought into that,” Coach
Kamerzell said. “And what we
didn’t get a chance to do
against Chadron was press
them, because we couldn’t
put the ball in the hole. Our
whole press is set up off of
made baskets, so we never
had the opportunity to show it
against Chadron. But, we did
against Torrington and here especially
here
against Gering —
a lot of dead ball
situations. All 12
guys came in and
I think everybody
got a steal —and
everyone had a
shot attempt so I
was pretty proud
with the pace
that we played
and the final result was evident.”
Next, the Bulldog team will be
in action this Friday against Gering; tipoff is set
for 4 p.m.
SCORING
(vs. Torrington)
AHS — Boness
18, T. McGhehey
15, Peltz 13, Lierk
12, C. McGhehey
5, Thompson 2,
Gorsuch 2.
THS — Moore
14, Allen 13,
Zimmerman 8,
Courtney 7, Wisroth 6, Smith 4,
Youtz 2.
SCORING
AHS — C. McGhehey 18,
Boness 12, Mracek 7, Peltz 7,
Gorsuch 4, Lierk 3, Roberts 3,
Mills 3, T. McGhehey 2, Harris 2.
GHS — Schwab 9, Fox 5,
Miller, Donovan, Morrow,
Roper 4 each, House 2,
Broussard 2, Peters 1.
Lady Bearcats Squeak Past Lady Bulldogs
By TAMMY COWARD
T-H Sports Editor
SCOTTSBLUFF — The
second round of the 2006
Western Conference Tournament was not an unfamiliar
match-up for the Alliance
Lady Bulldogs or the Scottsb l u ff Bearcats. Last year’s
season ended with these two
teams battling it out in double
overtime at the District finals –
where Scottsbluff garnered
the trip to the State Tournament.
Once again Scottsbluff
edged the Lady Bulldogs, 5650, in the close-notched contest. The entire 32 minutes
showcased both teams sharing the lead and devoting defense. Alliance came out on
top after the opening quarter,
13-11, with the help of backto-back three-pointers from
Asha Van Tilburg. Alliance’s
three-point shooting continued in the second quarter —
Brittany Lurz drained two,
while Van Tilburg nailed one
at the buzzer off of her own rebound, deadlocking the Lady
Bearcats at 24. Lurz and Van
Tilburg led AHS in the first
half with nine points each (all
from behind the arc).
“It’s early season, we
played hard and found out
some things about ourselves,
what our strengths are what
our weaknesses are and now
we get to go work on them,”
AHS Head Coach Dave Sautter said.
“That’s what this time of
the season is about — you like
to win those close ones, but
when you don’t a game like
this isn’t going to hurt us. At
the time it does, but down the
road a game like this is going
to help us. It exposed some of
our weaknesses and some of
the things we need to work
on.”
AHS 13 11 11 15 — 50
SHS 11 13 15 17 — 56
SHS’s Jordan Wilberger hit
a base-line jumper to open
the third quarter, followed by
Ashley Burns’ trey, and SeLina Ysac nailing back-to-back
three-pointers, giving the
Lady Bearcats a 35-24 lead.
Ysac led all scorers with 26
points. Lurz led her Lady Bulldog team with 17.
The Lady Bulldogs did not
score until Van Tilburg
drained another trey with
2:26 left in third. From there,
Audrey Van Tilburg hit two
free throws, Lurz capitalized
on her own steal, Jordan
Hooper hit from underneath
and Lurz nailed a two-ball
just inside the arc, cutting
into SHS’s lead, 39-35, head-
ing into the final quarter.
The remainder of the contest lingered up and down the
court at each team’s charity
line — Both teams combined
for 40 foul shots. All of Alliance’s fourth-quarter points
came from the foul line (15-of22). Scottsbluff was 13-of-18.
“They shot free throws better than we did, I think and
that may have been the difference in the ball game,” Coach
Sautter noted. “Plus, you
mentioned rebounds and we
preach that — and we’re going
to have to go back and work
on that a little more.”
Tomorrow, the JV Lady
Bulldogs will host Scottsbluff;
tipoff is set for 6 p.m. On that
note — the junior varsity team
did take part in the action at
Western Conference Tournament on Saturday, defeating
the Chadron JVs 43-18. The
varsity was supposed to
match-up with the Scottsbluff
JVs, who had already played
twice as Wheatland, Wyo.,
had to drop out of the WCT —
and the Lady Bearcats filled
in. So to prevent any complications the AHS varsity decided not to play on the JV level
and that opened up a slot for
the junior varsity to get in a
game. The varsity will be in
action again this Friday at
Gering; tipoff is set for 7:30
Photo by Tammy Coward/Times-Herald Sports
PRESSURE POINT — Alliance High’s senior point guard Brittany Lurz, above left, leads the
offense this past Friday against the Scottsbluff Lady Bearcats and No. 11 Jessica Reisig. Lurz led
her team with 17 points in AHS’s loss, 56-50.
p.m.
SCORING
AHS — Lurz 17, Asha Van
Tilburg 12, Hooper 10, Mills
6, Audrey Van Tilburg 4, Briggs 1.
SHS — Ysac 26, Wilberger
16, Quijas 7, Burns 5, Arellano 2.
Safin Sends Russia To Davis Cup Title; Grand Slam Champ Waits Until Fifth Match To Down Acasuso
MOSCOW (AP) — Admitting he was downright scared,
Marat Safin composed himself and won the Davis Cup title for
Russia.
The two-time Grand Slam champion had 16 aces in beating
Jose Acasuso 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Sunday in the fifth and
deciding match, giving Russia a 3-2 decision over Argentina for
its second Davis Cup crown.
‘’There were some very difficult moments today,’’ Safin said.
‘’It was tough to control the match. Everything worked out.’’
Safin lost his opening singles match Friday, blaming the indoor carpet at Olympic Stadium. But neither the surface nor
lingering knee injuries stopped him this time.
‘’This is probably the most important win in the last two
years,’’ Safin said.
David Nalbandian, who beat Safin on Friday, won the opening reverse singles match Sunday to make it 2-2. The eighthranked Argentine downed Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 64 to put Safin on the spot.