Pirates catch NHS cagers off-guard
By Jesse Phelps

It wasn't the ideal beginning. The Nordhoff girls' varsity basketball team took the floor at home for its season opener on Tuesday night against a Santa Ynez squad. It was the same squad that NHS soundly beat over the summer, and yet the Rangers proceeded to play as if it were the first time together since last season.
The Pirates beat the Rangers, 57-48, behind the hot shooting of the Gnekow sisters, Briana and Ariana, and dominant inside play from center Lindsay Demery, who earned 16 free throws by consistently taking the ball to the hoop, many on second chances.
The Rangers, on the other hand, relied on the outside shot. For much of the night, it wasn't falling. The team finished six of 26 (23 percent) from three-point range and just two of 11 in the first half, when it fell behind by as much as 12 points heading into the break.
In the third, Nordhoff suffered a rash of turnovers, which left it staring at a 38-21 deficit, their largest of the game. Briana Gnekow, who scored 15 points, hit two threes during the stretch.
Nordhoff answered with an
8-0 spurt toward the end of the third and went into the fourth, trailing by just nine after Sarah Lagos, Alexis Kenyon and Sarah Nylander all hit threes.
Still with the momentum at the start of the final period, Nordhoff turned up the pressure defense and forced several turnovers by the Pirates.
An Alison Bennett hoop off a nice assist from Tahnie Benitez trimmed the lead to seven. Then the Rangers went cold once again, failing to score for over three minutes. Two free throws by Kenyon ended the drought and when Bennett (six points, 11 rebounds) scored again from the baseline, the Rangers pulled to within 45-38.
Moments later, Megan Swann's putback made it 46-40, but that was as close the Rangers would get.
Nordhoff was forced to foul to stop the clock and two late threes by Swann and Nylander couldn't offset the Pirates' output from the charity stripe.
A poor start forced Nordhoff to play catch-up all night. All-league center Bennett picked up two quick fouls in the first two minutes of the game and the Rangers turned the ball over three times to gift the Pirates with an immediate 8-0 lead.
Johanna Rothermel led Nordhoff on the defensive end, grabbing nine rebounds to go with four steals and four blocked shots.
On offense, two bright spots were the play of Nylander, who scored 14 points, including three three-pointers, and Swann, who scored 10 points on four of six, shooting in her first varsity game. Nylander also tallied four rebounds and seven steals and Swann notched four boards, four assists, a steal and a block.
Not only was Bennett hampered by foul trouble, but she had to work to find spaces in the paint, with Demery looming around the hoop defensively. Demery finished with 18 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
"She blocked a couple of shots early," said Nordhoff coach Ted Cotti, "and I think we were a little intimidated after that. We'll need to work on getting the ball inside more."
Rothermel said she thinks the Rangers will be fine but that on this night the shots just weren't going down. The Rangers shot just 18 of 69, or 26 percent, for the game.
Said Cotti, "This was a good test for us. This is a team we'll need to defeat in the play-offs."
The game also served as a tune-up for the Westlake Tournament, which started Wednesday, and ends tomorrow.
In junior varsity action preceding the varsity showdown, Nordhoff lost a closer one. Chelsea Boatman led the Rangers in defeat, scoring seven points and collecting six steals in the 31-28 win for Santa Ynez.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

Back to sports

Back to the news