Marietta routs Jackson

JACKSON - Marietta standout LeAnne Ross did not score in the first half of Wednesday night's Southeastern Ohio Athletic League girls basketball bout at Jackson High School.

It wasn't an issue at all for the visiting Tigers.

Instead, the Ironladies were the ones with the offensive issues on Wednesday, as Marietta caged the Ironladies - and slammed the proverbial door shut by halftime - with a massive 25-3 run en route to a 61-26 rout.

With the win, Marietta remains undefeated in the SEOAL at 5-0, part of 6-1 overall with its only loss against West Virginia power Parke rsburg South.

The Ironladies - on the other hand - have dropped consecutive SEOAL showdowns against Washington County clubs, with the other occurring at Warren only a week ago 49-45.

Jackson dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the league with the loss.

Despite the setbacks at Logan and Warren, and even falling behind 16-1 against Ironton, the Ironladies had been competitive, and even had their chances to win each of those tilts.

But Jackson played poorly after the first 5:40 against the Tigers.

The 26 points it scored on Wednesday was easily a season-low.

With the game tied at 8-8, the Tigers took Jackson to task for the final 10:20 of the first half, outscoring the Ironladies 25-3 to triple the host 33-11 by halftime.

In that first half, bothered by Marietta's trapping full-court pressure, Jackson committed as many turnovers (20) as it took total shots (20).

"It's a man-to-man press, but we've been working on reading up, jumping the ball and jumping the passing lanes. I was pleased with the way we executed tonight," said Marietta coach ScottCozzens . "We got a lot of turnovers, a lot of easy looks at the basket, and we converted off those turnovers. When they did break it (press)down, we still sped them up enough that they rushed their shot or they rushed the pass. Our whole philosophy of pressing is based on speeding you up. We'll give up layups sometimes, but we think over the course of the whole fourth quarters, we'll have an advantage. We took them out of their comfort zone that they were for most of the first quarter."

Which was only for the first 5:40 of the game, as Jackson held early leads of 2-0, 4-3 and 6-3.

But Paige Lamb landed a three-point goal, and the Tigers never trailed again.

And, the Tigers' talented Ross - having picked up two quick personal fouls in the first quarter- did not play much, much less score,in the first half.

No need to worry for Marietta.

The Tigers tallied the final seven points of the first frame, and opened up a double-digit advantage just 50 seconds into the second.

The Ironladies only scored three points in the final 10:20 of the first half, and endured a drought of five minutes and five seconds before a Kari Jenkins free throw made it 19-9 with 5:15 to play.

Jackson coach Jay Martin said his team should not have been surprised by the Tigers' pressure.

But he also said that any gameplan is easier said than done.

"We knew they were going to come out and press. We knew they were going to try and speed us up. So we talked about slowing it down, pulling the ball out, making them chase and being patient on offense. But you know that talk is easy," said Martin. "When it comes game time, the girls panicked, put their heads down, wanted to drive in and not run the offense. Against a good team of Marietta's caliber, you have to execute every possession, and we didn't do that tonight."

Marietta mustered a second spurt of at least 11 unanswered points.

In fact, the Tigers tallied the next 14 to lead 33-9, as Jackson's Jenkins ended the Ironladies' second epic scoring drought of the quarter, posting the team's only field goal at the 23-second mark.

All of this without Ross registering in the scorebook.

But Cozzens said that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Late last season, Ross racked up a career-high 39 points against the Ironladies at Sutton Gymnasium in Marietta.

"We've worked real hard this year making sure that everybody is part of this team," he said. "We've developed other weapons. LeAnn only played three-and-a-half quarters tonight, but she also opens up so much stuff for other people."

Those include the likes of Lamb, who led all scorers with a dozen, and Elizabeth Stoll, who scored 10.

Both finished with four field goals, and scored six points apiece in the second stanza.

The center Stoll secured a team-high six rebounds, as Allie Summers scored five and grabbed five boards.

Several caroms were of the offensive variety, and aided in the Tigers' 25-3 run to end the first half.

"I was really pleased with our post presence tonight in Elizabeth Stoll and Allie Summers," said Cozzens. "When we were making that run, when we didn't get a fast break, we were able to get the ball inside and finish. It seemed like we were scoring on every possession."

Eleven total Tigers scored, as LeAnn and Lauren Ross each scored seven.

Marietta made 45-percent (18-of-40) of its two-point shots, part of 38-percent (22-of-58) overall.

With triple the advantage over the Ironladies by halftime, the Tigers tripled up Jackson 36-12 over the middle two cantos, claiming a 51-20 advantage entering the fourth.

Jackson was stymied to single digits in all four periods, including double the margin in the first (15-8) and third (18-9) sandwiched around the decisive 18-3 in the second.

Speaking of 18, Marietta managed an 18-10 advantage in total field goals, including four threes compared to none for the Ironladies.

The Red and White was 0-of-14 from beyond the arc, part of a frigid 23-percent overall (10-of-44), as it was also guilty of 28 turnovers.

Only five Ironladies scored, as three scored six (Jenkins, Nicole Chapman and Mallory Geiger) and two others chipped in four (Emileigh Cooper and Meredith Harless).

All five had two field goals apiece, as Jenkins, Mallory Geiger and Nicole Chapman canned two free throws each.

Geiger grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds despite playing in foul trouble most of the night.

Chapman collared six and made off with three steals.

Member Comments

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buckeyefan11
01-01-10 11:35 AM »Report Abuse	If you look at the girls basketball pennant on the wall, I would think people would be more supportive of the coaches and players when things are going well.(alot of talented players have played on the hardwoods here) When you have a team of quality players, sometimes playing time is hard to get. A quarter or 2 at JV level only makes sense. Saying that, you also need to give the JV players a taste of varsity ball also. As hard as they practice, I assume that would fall under the earn category. And "Ross" is one of the best players to come through the program at Marietta so I assume her name would probably get mentioned alot. That being said, there are over 20 great kids and 5 good coaches spending alot of time on and off the court each day trying to make themselves and the program better. Come watch a game and support the players and coaches,don't condemn. Hopefully they will all stay hungry and keep working hard and finish the season in 2010 like they started in 2009. Good
loyaltiger
12-31-09 6:57 PM »Report Abuse	it's just as bad to move a girl down to jv and take playing time from kids that are the future of the program. sometimes you have to realize that maybe basketball is not your sport. Coach Cozzens needs to think down the road not just make parents and girls happy.
tigersfan1
12-31-09 11:32 AM »Report Abuse	why does every article on the girls basketball team have to be centered around ross, especially when she has not been much of a threat to other teams lately. also...cozzens needs to realize that varsity time should be earned and not givn to his daughter and her friends. the times need to realize there are 5 girls on the court that are working very hard and also deserve to be praised for there efforts

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