Wolverines open season with 63-20 rout of Red Oak


East Mills’ Emily Williams leads a fast break. The junior scored 13 of her game high 18 points in the first half of the Wolverines’ win.

A switch up on defense from zone to man-to-man and a 21-0 second quarter run offensively proved the difference for East Mills in a 63-20 victory over Red Oak in the girls basketball season-opener for both teams in Malvern last Tuesday night.

The Wolverines opened the game in a tight 2-3 zone but first-year head coach Lexi Moreno quickly pulled her team out of that after a handful of possessions. She turned her defense over to man-to-man pressure and the Tigers never seemed to recover.

Moreno felt like her team’s ball pressure bothered the Tigers to the point they never quite looked comfortable on offense.

“We really want to be able to do both,” Moreno said of her defensive adjustment. “We really do like the way our zone looks and we have players who can really play any part of that zone, we’re very versatile defensively. I am happy with how our man looked, but it wasn’t my intention to play it that much. But we looked really good doing it and it was effective.”

East Mills forced seven turnovers early but led just 14-8 after the opening quarter. In the second quarter, they scooped up six turnovers in the Tigers first eight possessions and rattled off 21 straight points. Aspen Crouse’s corner three-pointer gave the Wolverines a 35-8 lead with just over three minutes to go before half.

Five different Wolverines scored in the run, most coming on easy transition buckets off turnovers and missed shots.

“The thing we wanted to focus on, even from the beginning of practice, was getting the ball out and pushing it,” Moreno said. “We have people who can run and ball handlers who can get the ball up and people who can finish. We hadn’t executed that well in the past but tonight it really clicked  for us. Our wings were getting wide and we were finishing. Anytime we can get a quick bucket and play good defense, that’s always good.”

The Wolverines led 43-13 at the half.

Emily Williams scored 13 of her game-high 18 points in the first half. Miah Urban added 16 points and Crouse 12.

Moreno said she saw a ton of what she liked in the season-opening blow-out but she also saw some things they’ll need to improve.

“For sure we can box out better,” she said. “We could have had more boards. And we need to take better care of the ball. We didn’t always do that but because we are physical and athletic we were able to get away with that. We also need to rotate defensively better and figure out our personnel a little better. We’re still trying to figure out who works well with each other and where.”

 

The Opinion-Tribune

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