Lady Titans defend home court
Jan. 21—PORTSMOUTH — What has typically been a season-opening game between the Notre Dame Lady Titans and South Webster Lady Jeeps was pushed into January this season.
Two of the Southeast District's premiere Division IV programs met in Portsmouth on Wednesday night, later in the campaign than usual, but still with much at stake.
With a 21-18 lead at halftime, the host Lady Titans played to their strengths and got defensive in the second half.
ND's zone looks against South Webster on the defensive end proved valuable as by game's end, having forced 16 Lady Jeep turnovers in their 51-41 victory.
Lady Titans coach J.D. McKenzie said he was proud of the way his team executed their defensive gameplan coming out of halftime.
"We decided at halftime that we were going to switch to that," McKenzie said, afterwards. "Told them after the game, the way they played that in the second half I thought was the changing point in the game. We got some good looks on offense, we were able to set up our defense and force some turnovers because of it."
ND junior Annie Dettwiller was the team's leader on both ends Wednesday, scoring a team-high 14 points on three-made field goals — and a perfect 8-of-8 mark at the foul line.
Dettwiller also snagged seven of the team's 12 steals, and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Sophomore Gracie Ashley scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds, Kamryn Bradford scored eight and had six rebounds, Annabelle Ball and Ella Kirby each scored seven, and Katie Strickland scored six points in the win.
"The great thing about this team is that they're so balanced," McKenzie said. "If you want to stop one, that's on you, but we've got five other girls that can step up and score."
South Webster senior Bri Claxon scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field with four-made free throws.
McKenzie said that limiting Claxon was a factor in the pre-game planning, but completely shutting out a player of her caliber isn't likely to happen.
"Bri's a generational talent and a great kid. The goal wasn't to hold her to zero because that's not going to happen," he said. "Wanted to keep an eye on her and know where she's at at all times, because she's so fast."
Notre Dame's win over South Webster gives it an advantage — when it comes time for area coaches to rank their respective Division IV programs in the Southeast District postseason seeding.
The Lady Titans (10-3, 7-0 SOC II), riding a near 100-game win streak against SOC I opponents, are set to welcome second-place Symmes Valley (11-7, 9-1 SOC I) on Monday night (Jan. 24) in a deciding game for league standings.
"We wanted to get tested. Our out of conference schedule, we tried to make it as difficult as possible. I think it's been huge for us, especially with them being young and going on the road and being tested," McKenzie said. "They've grown up so much in a short period of time, it's exciting to see how pumped up they get after big wins."
South Webster will travel to Trimble on Saturday (Jan. 22) to face the Lady Tomcats — in another key D-IV non-league matchup.
***
BOX SCORE
South Webster 7 11 11 12 — 41
Notre Dame 15 6 16 14 — 51
South Webster (10-4, 7-2 SOC II) 41
Faith Maloney 4 0-0 8, Makayla Raynard 0 0-0 0, Bri Claxon 9 4-6 23, Bella Claxon 2 0-0 5, Skylar Zimmerman 1 0-0 2, Riley Raynard 1 0-0 3, Kennedy Murphy 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 17 4-6 41; Three-point field goals: 3 (Bri Claxon, Bella Claxon, Riley Raynard 1 apiece)
Notre Dame (10-3, 7-0 SOC I) 51
Ella Kirby 2 1-2 7, Kamryn Bradford 3 1-1 8, Annie Dettwiller 3 8-8 14, Annabelle Ball 2 2-5 7, Gracie Ashley 4 1-2 9, Katie Strickland 2 2-2 6; TOTALS: 16 15-20 51; Three-point field goals: 4 (Kirby 2, Bradford and Ball 1 apiece)
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com, or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
