The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Saline blasts Lincoln 61-16
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 7, 2008
The Saline girls' basketball team didn't much care for losing to Tecumseh last Thursday. Tuesday night, visiting Lincoln found that out the hard way.
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The Hornet defense never let the Railsplitters breathe and the Hornet offense exploded for a 30-point second quarter as Saline thumped Lincoln 61-16.
"We were focused and ready to go," said Saline head coach Jason Pickett. "We wanted to move past Tecumseh. We were back home, and we were hungry ... They got down to business."
The win provided a happy ending to Senior Night as the Hornets honored the careers of seniors Monica Mezger, Sarah Hoffman and Kristen Nye. Pickett said that his team's ability to not get caught up in the emotion of the evening is a testament to the leadership of those three seniors.
"They had us ready to play," he said. "Especially with a younger team like ours, sometimes something like Senior Night can get you out of rhythm. Our seniors, our leaders made sure our team was focused."
That focus showed in every aspect of the game, as the Hornets out-rebounded the Railsplitters 40-17 and shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, finishing 25-of-51.
But it was especially apparent on the defensive end, where Saline held Lincoln to only four field goals the entire game on 4-of-35 (11.4 percent) shooting. The Hornets forced 24 turnovers, while committing only six and allowed no more than six points in any quarter.
"When we're dialed in, we can play some pretty good defense," said Pickett. "They like to drive and kick the ball out, so we worked on limiting dribble penetration this week and closing out on shooters. And we executed that really well tonight."
Saline led 15-6 after the first quarter, saw the lead balloon all the way to 45-10 at halftime and triggered the 40-point running clock by pushing the score to 57-15 after three.
Kaitlin Ward led the Hornets in both points and rebounds, scoring 13 points and grabbing six boards. Natalie Wright added 10 points, followed by Hoffman with nine, Kristy Chapman, Lauren Zakrasjek and Angie Hollis with six each, Nye with four, Amara Karapas with three, and Mezger and Beth Ormsby with two each.
Wright, Zakrasjek, Nye and Ormsby all collected five rebounds, while Chapman led Saline in both assists, with five, and steals, with three.
The win took Saline to 13-5 overall and 10-5 in Southeastern Conference play with a stretch of three games in six days approaching. The Hornets will host Adrian Thursday at 7 p.m. and Monroe at 2 p.m. Saturday before traveling to Chelsea for their regular-season finale Tuesday.
"After the loss Thursday, we kind of refocused our sights on getting ready for districts," Pickett said. "We're still trying to improve every day, in every practice, in every game. We worked hard on some things this week and it was good we were able to put them into game situations tonight."
Saline will hope the Lincoln win gets them back on track after seeing Tecumseh sweep the season series from them with a 46-39 win in Tecumseh.
Hoffman scored a team-high eight points with Nye and Ward each adding seven, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 42-20 disparity for Tecumseh in free throws taken and 27-22 and 38-20 Hornet deficits at the end of the second and third quarters.
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