February 21, 2008 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Lady Tigers can’t sink Shipley for league title “Lennon did a great job,” said GFS head coach Tom Myran. “She’s really quick and we had a tough time putting a body on her.” Lennon, as well as the rest of the Gators, set a tone for the rest of the game by hammering the offensive glass for constant second shots. After jumping out to a quick 5-2 lead behind five quick points by Tiger shooting guard Nina Voith, Shipley ended the quarter on a 12-2 run to give it a 14-7 lead. The Tigers struggled to find a rhythm offensively all game long. Midway through the second quarter, forward Talitha Smith made a putback layup to cut the Shipley lead to 18-12, and the Tigers got a stop the next time down the floor. But the next two times GFS had the ball, Shipley forced turnovers which it turned into five straight points to go up 23-12. “We got caught up in things sometimes,” Myran said. “There were so many times were we’d get a really nice steal then just give the ball right back to them.” After going to the locker room down 27-16, the Tigers had to find a way to gain some offensive intensity. In the latter stages of the third quarter, GFS found just that, going on a 11-2 run to cut the lead to three, 36-33 going into the fourth quarter. In that quarter, Voith established herself even more on offense, scoring nine points. But the Gators turned up the defense in the fourth period, forcing turnovers on three of the first four Tiger possessions and turning those turnovers into five points. The tough defense did not just stop there, as Shipley held GFS scoreless for the first four and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. “We couldn’t in sync offensively at all,” Myran said. And while the Tigers struggled to click on offense, Lennon did not. She scored 10 points in that fourth quarter including six coming from offensive rebounds. “The first time we played them, the guards killed us from the outside,” Myran said. “But this time it was Lennon. When she gets the ball, whether it is off a pass or off a rebound, she is tough.” The Tigers mounted one last push with two minutes left in the fourth, when guard Julya Loder made a driving layup and Voith knocked in three free throws to cut the lead to six, 44-38. But Shipley made 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory. “They dictated the pace all game,” Myran said. “We just couldn’t put it all together.” Despite the loss, it wasn’t all bad for the Tigers. With 52 seconds left in the third quarter, Voith made a running left-handed shot that gave her 1,000 points for her career. She has joined the ranks of Jennifer Jones, Sarah Winters, Abby Scattergood, and Katherine Bixby as 1,000-point female scorers at GFS. The Tigers had a tough time scoring all game long, going just 10-of-34 from the field, good for just 29 percent on the evening. Shelby Tucker, Loder, and Marisol McKee went just 4-of-23 from the floor. If the Tigers thought they had rid themselves of the Gators, they are mistaken. They play Shipley again this Friday as part of the Pennsylvania Athletic Independent School tournament. Perhaps the third time will be the charm for the Tigers.
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