Wolverines third at Corner tourney

East Mills’ best offense was often it’s defense in a 53-31 victory over Fremont-Mills in the Corner Conference girls basketball tournament consolation finals Friday in Malvern.

The Wolverines’ full court, man-to-man defense frustrated and flustered the Knights all game long. East Mills forced more than 30 turnovers and grabbed 21 steals in the win.

“We wanted to be aggressive defensively,” said East Mills coach Blair Holman. “We have some good, quick girls and sometimes we reach and get into foul trouble but tonight we played good, disciplined man-to-man defense. We played great help defense and kept their shooters off the three-point line. It’s exactly what we wanted to do.”

The first quarter wasn’t pretty – for either team.

The two teams got off to a rugged start, combining for nearly as many turnovers (16) as points (18) in the first quarter.

But the Wolverines scraped together 14-4 after the opening frame. In the first half they held the Knights’ scoreless for over nine minutes in the while growing their lead to 23-8.

Time and again the Wolverines forced turnovers that led to fast breaks and early offense.

Alex Knop’s steal and layup early in the third quarter pushed the margin out to 37-17. The Wolverines out-scored the Knights 16-4 in the frame.

“That’s our M.O.,” Holman said of his team’s transition game. “We want to hold them to one shot and get the opportunity to get up and down. We have great athletes so we want to run as much as possible.”

Fremont-Mills coach Brett Weldon said the Wolverines’ defense was the difference.

“It’s something we’ve worked on but it’s hard to simulate in practice,” Weldon said after the game. “And then we come out in games and we’re unsure of ourselves and we’re not confident and we try to do too much and we turn the ball over.”

Holman said the win felt like his team’s “most complete” of the season.

“From start to finish we wanted to compete every second of the game. Even in some lopsided wins we had some struggles but tonight we put it all together and showed what we can play like.

Knop led East Mills with a game-high 20 points. She also added 10 rebounds. Emily Williams chipped in 14.

Kenna Howard scored nine to pace the Knights.

Stanton 47,
East Mills 39

Stanton used a 13-5 second quarter run to pull away from East Mills for a 47-39 win in the Corner Conference girls basketball tournament semifinals Wednesday in Stanton.

With the win the Viqueens advanced to the conference championship against Sidney.

In the semifinals, the Wolverines (8-3 overall, 3-2 in the conference) led 15-14 after a quarter but struggled offensively in the second and third quarters, combining for just seven points in the two frames, and getting down as many as 14 points.

East Mills 57,
Essex 22    

East Mills out-scored Essex 25-5 in the first quarter en route to a 57-22 victory in the opening round of the Corner Conference girls basketball tournament last Monday.

Alex Knop notched a double-double for the Wolverines with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Natalie Goodman chipped in 14 points and Emily Williams 13 in the win.

Sidney 46,
Fremont-Mills 30

Fremont-Mills struggled offensively, scoring a season-low 11 first half points, in a 46-30 loss to Sidney in the Conference Conference girls basketball tournament semifinals last Wednesday in Stanton.

The Cowgirls (7-6 overall, 4-1 in the conference), playing without starting guard Maddy Duncan, were an efficient 16-of-34 from the field and assisted on 14 of their 16 made field goals in the win. Avery Dowling led the way for Sidney with 16 points.

The Knights (7-6 overall, 5-2 in the conference) never seemed to get on track offensively, shooting just 21.2 percent from the field (10-of-47) and getting out-rebounded 32 to 16 for the game.

Kaelynn Driskell led F-M with 11 points.

Fremont-Mills 44,
Griswold 37

Kaylee Wright and Teagan Ewalt scored 13 points each to lead Fremont-Mills to a 44-37 victory over Griswold in the first round of the Corner Conference girls basketball tournament Tuesday in Griswold.

The Knights trailed 21-20 at the half but outscored the Tigers 24-16 after halftime to secure the victory.

The Knights shot just 25.4 percent from the field (13-of-51) but held a 41-32 rebounding edge and grabbed 10 steals defensively.

Wright pulled down 10 rebounds to go with her 13 points. Ewalt added seven rebounds and four steals. Courtney Goodman pitched in 10 points.

Mikala Pelzer led Griswold with 16 points.