Moline girls force 33 turnovers in rout of Rocks
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By Shannon Heaton | Thursday, November 29, 2007 |
Moline coach Steve Ford was quick to call himself a broken record Thursday night.
Perhaps, but his Maroons seemed to pick up on the song Ford wanted to sing, punishing host Rock Island with tremendous defensive pressure in both the half and full courts.
Forcing 33 turnovers, Moline collected 22 steals and pulled away early for a 62-37 Western Big Six victory.
“That was the focus this week and it was the pregame speech,” Ford said. “We were going to go out and play defense, and the girls really stepped up and did that.”
The Maroons (2-1) forced nine Rock Island turnovers in the first quarter, and many led to layups on the other end.
“That’s just our Moline defense,” said senior guard Susie Francescon, who had four steals on the night. “I’m quoting coach Ford on that one.”
As the game unfolded, the defensive pressure didn’t let up. A 13-point, first-quarter lead (17-4) turned into 15 at halftime, with a 16-2 run to start the third quarter making it a 29-point margin halfway through. Even Moline’s last basket for the game came off a putback of a missed layup resulting from a steal.
“We work really well as a team; we know where everybody is,” said sophomore guard Miranda Geever, who also had four steals. “I think we could have done better on guarding wing passes and getting steals there, but otherwise it was pretty well-played.”
Rock Island coach Rod Leatherman could only agree.
“We figured out at halftime that they got six points out of their offense, they got four free throws and the rest were just layups off of transition, off of turnovers,” Leatherman said. “We’ve seen some better things out of (our) team. We did have players missing, but we should be able to make entry passes.”
Instead, 11 Moline players came up with at least one steal. At the same time, eight Maroons had at least one assist, leading to a balanced scoring effort led by Moline’s first reserve off the bench, Kara Johnson, with 12 points.
“We kept up our intensity throughout the game. We
didn’t let down; I thought all 14 players played at the same intensity level,” Ford said.
And that helped keep Moline in the mix atop the Big 6 standings at 2-0.
“It’s a great change from last season,” Geever said. “Everybody plays well together, and we feel like we have a good team and that it’s going to be a fun season.”
Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.
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