Coach Smith Memorial: Salado girls advance to third-place game
Posted On: Saturday, Dec. 12 2009 05:11 AM
By Alex Byington
Killeen Daily HeraldSALADO – Using a more balanced attack, with four players with at least nine points, the host Salado Lady Eagles flew past St. Michael's 59-41 on Friday night in their final pool-play game of the eighth annual Coach Smith Memorial basketball tournament.
"It was a great, great team win," said first-year Salado coach Jeanette McKinney. "... That's what we've been preaching ... we've got to have that balanced attack and I think they're finally starting to see that and become more comfortable with each other."
With two easy wins Friday, including a 42-23 rout of Merkel earlier in the day, Salado rallied after suffering a 34-30 loss to Lorena in its pool-play opener Thursday. The Lady Eagles (9-4) will play McGregor for third place today at noon.
"We were terribly disappointed in our loss (Thursday) night and we definitely talked about coming out more focused and with more intensity and played more as a unit – we didn't feel like we did that (against Lorena)," McKinney said. "... We talk about playing with a purpose and playing with passion and we definitely saw that (against St. Michaels)."
After depending heavily on the outside shooting prowess of junior Hadley Joiner for much of the season, the Lady Eagles were able to spread the scoring wealth to several new faces including a pair of sophomore posts in Kirstie McGillick, who tied Joiner with a team-high 13 points against St. Michael's, and Jessica Carmona, who added nine points. Also coming through for Salado was junior guard Brennan Boydstun with 10 points.
"We've been talking all year about trying to have a balanced attack, where if we can have an inside game, it opens it up a little bit for the perimeter players, and we just haven't had that and it's been a work in progress with the posts," McKinney said. "And they are just now starting to feel comfortable with that inside game and they're starting to gain a little confidence."
Looking to get back to the playoffs after their first-ever Class 2A state semifinal appearance last season, the Lady Eagles will be looking to continue their jelling in today's third-place game against McGregor.
After starting slow against St. Michael's, missing four of its first five shots, Salado turned on the burners to outscore the Lady Crusaders 13-5 over the final 5:13 of the first quarter to close out the opening period leading 16-9.
From there, the Lady Eagles opened the second quarter with a pair of 3-pointers from Joiner and Boydstun, followed by a trio of scores in the paint by sophomores Carling Urben, Alexis Bowman and Carmona that gave Salado a 28-17 advantage with 1:42 remaining in the half. After a third and final three-pointer from Joiner, McGillick closed out the first half with a strong bucket in the lane to close out a 17-8 second quarter effort.
The Lady Eagles went back to their post play in much of the second quarter, scoring all 26 of their second-half points on either layups, short-range jumpers or free throws, of which Salado finished 7-of-17 from the line, with all but two of those attempts coming in the final two quarters.
Salado ends scoring woes in blowout
Struggling to find their shot through the first two games of the Coach Smith Memorial, the host Salado Eagles solved their issues in a 70-30 blowout of Mason in the final game of pool play. Salado plays Austin Travis in the fifth-place game today at 10:30 a.m.
After opening the tournament with back-to-back losses – falling 57-47 to Brock on Thursday and 54-46 to Sinton earlier Friday – Salado exploded out of the gate against Mason by making its first eight straight attempts, jumping ahead 19-2 before missing its first shot around the two minute mark of the
first quarter.
The hot start, aided by stout, in-your-face defense that forced Mason into nine first quarter turnovers, quickly got out of hand as the Eagles built a 25-4 lead through the first eight minutes of the game.
Admittedly letting up some in the second quarter, Salado still managed to outscore the Comets 13-10 in the second frame to take a 24-point lead, 38-14, into halftime.
But much like in the first quarter, the Eagles came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, scoring 20 straight points before Mason made its lone basket of the quarter with 1:05 left in the period.
After turning the ball over on four consecutive possessions, Salado junior Hunter Ward drilled one of his two 3-pointers as the buzzer sounded to end the quarter, as the Eagles stretched their lead to a game-high 41 points.
Leading the way along with Ward, who had 13 points, were Colton Meiman, who led all scorers with 14 points, as well as sophomore Koby Spears, who added 10 points to the effort.
Contact Alex Byington at
alexb@kdhnews.com or at (254) 501-7566.