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Press breakers: Cottey's speed too much for Neosho at hoops tourney
Nevada Daily Mail
FORT SCOTT ---- The Cottey Comets withstood 40 minutes of full court pressure defense from the Neosho County Community College Panthers, emerging with a 57-51 victory, in the first game of Fort Scott Community College's Fourth Annual Greyhound Classic, Friday afternoon at Arnold Area on the campus of FSCC.
Superb free throw shooting proved to be a major factor, as Cottey hit 14 consecutive free throws in the second half.
The Comets (4-1) next face off against the Greyhounds, today at 4 p.m.
Led by speedy point guard Ciera Wong and her steady ball-handling ability, Neosho's full court press was mostly ineffective. The Comets committed 22 turnovers for the game, with 14 coming in the first half. However, a high percentage of those came in the half court set.
Cottey head coach Stephanie Beason said she spent the last few days devising ways to beat Neosho's full court press, after watching them play common opponent, St. Mary's junior varsity, Nov. 17.
"That's really been our main focus the last three or four days, is working against their press," she said. "And the biggest thing was just being patient and having confidence in our capabilities.
"If we could pull people to us, then someone had to be wide-open. We did a really good job against the press, and we're going to have to continue that tomorrow to have a chance against Fort Scott."
The Comets managed to keep their composure late in the second half, after seeing their 47-41 lead evaporate in the blink of an eye.
With 4:14 to play in regulation, Neosho shooting guard Olivia Uhrich buried a 3-pointer from the right wing, slicing Cottey's lead to 47-44.
"We had done a really good job in the first half of guarding their 3-point shooters," Beason said. "We were all over them. They were 'O-for' (0-for- 9) in the first half. In the second half, right out of halftime, we just weren't finding our man. We were leaving them wide open.
"Once they hit one, then they started getting on a little bit of a roll."
On the Panthers next possession, small forward Madigan Gonzales drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:58 to play, tying the game.
Cottey finally stopped the bleeding when Wong was sent to the line, where she calmly knocked down a pair of free throws, handing the Comets a 49-47 lead with 2:26 left on the clock.
The lead was extended to two possessions, when forward Machela VanGennip's free throws gave the Comets a 51-47 lead, with 1:33 to remaining. After a defensive stop, VanGennip was again sent to the line, hitting both attempts, putting Cottey up 53-47.
The Panthers responded with a quick 4-0 run, after guard Mackenzie Dunbar hit 1-of-2 free throws, followed by a 3-ball from Uhrich, cutting the Comets lead to 53-51 with just over a minute remaining.
Out of a timeout, and in the half court set, Cottey's Sydney Rose dribbled from the top of the key to the left wing, before dumping an entry pass into power forward Linsey Denney, who's shot was off-target, and rebounded by Neosho.
Cottey picked up a quick foul, sending Panther guard Autumn Lipscomb to the charity stripe with 33.7 seconds left, for a critical 1-and-1. Lipscomb clanked the front end, and the rebound was plucked out of the air by Cottey.
Wong all but iced the game, after knocking down two free throws with 25 seconds showing on the clock. For good measure, VanGennip added another pair with 10.3 seconds left, to put the Comets on top 57-51.
Despite the 22 turnovers, Beason said she was satisfied with the team's effort.
"The focus was being patient on both ends of the floor," she said. "Because their 2-3 zone was so spread out that we would have openings if we were just patient.
"I think we did a better job of finding open people in the full court than what we actually did in the half court. We're going to have to pull that confidence and patience into the half court, tomorrow (against FSCC)."
Denney's big night
After a monster first half, in which Denney poured in 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field, including a 3-pointer, and 7-for-10 from the free throw line, she was locked down in the second half, going 0-for-6 from the field.
Despite that, Denney finished with a game-high 22 points, to go along with 8 rebounds.
"Linsey did a good job tonight," Beason said. "She got a little bit scrambled early in the second half. But Linsey's the type of kid, she bounces back easier than a lot of people do.
"She's ultra-competitive. And once she hits that first shot and gets to fist-pumping, she's usually good to go."
Beason was also pleased with the play of Rose.
Early in the second half, Cottey's Rose hit a key baseline jumper, helping to stem Neosho's momentum.
"Sydney's been pretty solid, especially for a freshman," Beason said. "She's doing some really nice things. And she kind of seems to be the one who steps up in the moments that we need someone to step up."
Second half woes
For the second consecutive game, Cottey let a halftime lead quickly slip away. Last week, after leading 33-27, visiting Hesston went on an 8-0 run to open the second half.
Neosho followed suit, going on a 15-6 blitz to open up the second half.
"We're going to have to change something up over halftime," Beason said. "To make sure that when we come out, when the ball is inbounded in the second half, we're ready to play and we're kind of refocusing.
"If we don't take those three, four minutes off to start the second half, than it's not that tight in the end."
Charity stripe excellence
The Comets shot nearly 80 percent from the line (27-for-34), compared to Neosho at 50 percent (7-for-14).
VanGennip finished with 14 points, while cashing 12-of-14 free throws. Wong was 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
"I said at halftime that if we were going to win, we had to hit free throws," Beason said. "And that's exactly what it came down to. We stayed put on the line, weren't walking off, and actually were a little bit focused tonight."
Beason happy with point guard play
"Tonight with the pressure we were seeing, I felt like Ciera was doing a real good job in the full court," Beason said. "She's been doing really nice, especially for a player who jumped into that role about a week before the season started."
By the numbers
Cottey shot just 31 percent from the field (14-for-45), while Neosho was off-target on a staggering 55 shots, going 19-for-74 from the field (25 percent), which included Lipscomb, and Denise Levine combining to go 2-for-20 from the field, while Uhrich only connected on 2-of-9 field goals, both of which were 3-pointers.
Gonzales led the Panthers with 14 points shooting 6-for-14 from the field.
Cottey hammered Neosho on the glass, outrebounding them 42-23. The Comets came away with 22 points in the paint, to Neosho's 18.