Granger girls use pressure to run away from Lady Buffs Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 25 2009 05:10 AM By Nick Talbot
Killeen Daily Herald

FLORENCE – The Florence girls basketball team struggled all night on offense.

However, it was defensive breaks and Granger's full-court press that ultimately did it in as the Lady Lions defeated the Lady Buffaloes 50-20 at Florence High on Tuesday.

"The first half was really ugly," said Granger coach Mike Abbott. "This was our second game because we went really deep in the volleyball playoffs and we came out like it.

"They had a very nice offense that kind of lulled us to sleep, so I wanted them to go to the press to get us moving."

The Buffaloes (3-4) managed to take a 5-4 lead after the first quarter, despite not hitting a single shot from the floor.

Instead, Kasey Button, who led Florence with eight points, hit 5 of 6 from the line as Florence tried to make the contest a defensive battle.

And for the first half, it worked. The Lady Buffaloes held the 1A Lions to only four field goals and 15 points in the first half.

The problem was only Nikkole Morgan and Reagan Isbell hit shots for Florence as struggled to hold onto that early lead and trailed 15-11 at the half.

"I think because they missed early they started to be timid on their shots and not take them when they were open," said Florence coach Frode Andersen.

In only got worse in the third quarter, as Granger held the Buffaloes scoreless for the first four minutes.

Granger (1-1) had no such problems. The Lions converted two three-point plays and got two key buckets by Jenna Polasek and went on a 14-1 run.

"We put them in the press to kind of get us going," Abbott said. "It kind of woke us up and got us focused and we were able to shoot the ball much better."

Kaylee Parkhurst got a steal and an easy layup to end the run, but the damage was done.

Granger went on to outscore the Buffaloes 19-3 in the fourth quarter and pushed its lead past the 20-point barrier and all the way to 30.

"It was a situation of us letting them make us uncomfortable," Anderson said. "When they got on a run on us we tended to slow ourselves down instead of attacking."

Contact Nick Talbot at ntalbot@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7569.