During first-half action against visiting Chillicothe, three Marietta High girls converged on a Lady Cavalier guard trying to bring the ball across the center line near the scorer's table.
It was almost like a shark feeding frenzy as the CHS ballhandler never had a chance and turned the ball over. The Lady Tiger defensive pressure was that intense. So much so that in the game the Lady Cavaliers turned the ball over an astronomical 34 times.
Any team that doesn't take care of the ball like that is probably going to lose, and Chillicothe predictably did, 65-35. When Marietta beat Gallia Academy 59-29 in its season and home opener, it benefitted from 35 Lady Blue Devil turnovers and limited the visitors from Gallipolis to 3 single-digit quarters.
Then, against a very good Waterford team in its second game of the season, MHS won 75-57, forcing 21 Lady Wildcat turnovers and limiting the green and white to 21 TOs.
"We're trying to hang our hat on (defenseive pressure)," said first-year MHS girls basketball coach Scott Cozzens, whose orange and black squad improved its record to 3-0. "We have a goal of single-digit scoring per quarter."
The Lady Tigers accomplished that goal again, limiting the Lady Cavs (2-2) to three out of four single-digit periods. The royal blue and white team had difficulty all game long, trying to get into its halfcourt offense.
When CHS did occasionally escape Marietta's trapping press, the visitors seemed to hurry its shot, and as a result it shot poorly, and the Lady Tigers more often than not got the rebound, despite the Lady Cavs having a slight height advantage.
"I thought we did well inside (Saturday night) rebounding with them," Cozzens said.
Needless to say, it was a total team effort by Marietta, which played in-your-face, aggressive defense from the get-go.
As a result, the Lady Tigers got a lot of easy buckets in transtion, and also spent a lot of time at the free-throw line.
"Coach can put anybody in, because they're all doing it," said MHS standout LeAnne Ross, who scored a game-high 22 points.
If Marietta continues to play like it did against Chillicothe, it's going to win a lot of games this winter.
"It's definitely clicking, and everybody's playing well," Ross said. "I just hope that we can keep it up."
On Wednesday night at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center, MHS played its first road game of the season against Parkersburg South, a school in the past that has given the Lady Tigers trouble.
MHS (3-1) dropped a 60-55 decision to the Lady Patriots.
(See game story - Tigers Fall -Page C1)
Ron Johnston is the Marietta Times sports editor, and can be reached at 376-5441, or at rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
