(November 29, 2014) – DELTA: Playing on the road against a North Western Ohio Athletic League team, Edon fell and fell hard.
Thanks in large part to a 23 point third quarter, the Lady Panthers of Delta defeated the visiting Lady Bombers 56-28. Edon was outscored in every period, and struggled mightily in the second half.
Delta shot 45% from the floor, which also didn’t help matters for the Bombers. The Lady Panthers high shooting percentage didn’t come from a lack of defensive presence, or exploiting the size advantage they held over the Edon girls. The Panthers simply made difficult shots, and made them look easy while doing so.
Edon went into the half down 7 points, trailing 23-16. They came out in the third quarter determined to claw their way back into the game. After going on a 4-2 mini-run, the Lady Bombers seemed poised to seize control of the game.
Then Delta went on a run of their own.
The basket seemed a good bit larger on the Panther end of the court. Several shots fell for the Delta girls, some open, others not. It didn’t matter. Delta’s top shelf shooters had taken over the game.
As the deficit grew wider for the Edon girls, desperation crept up on them. The offense was abandoned for quick shots. They attempted to force the ball down the court against a vicious press run by the Panthers, which led to turnovers. Edon never recovered, and the Delta run never really ended.
At the end of the game, Edon was held to just a 22% field goal rate. A major reason for the low percentage was Delta’s ability to limit the impact of Kaitlyn Sonneberger. Their main post presence, the Bombers need her to play well. However, that’s hard for her to accomplish when she only gets 4 shot attempts in the game. She didn’t even make it to the free throw line, usually a natural occurrence for inside players. Sonneberger scored her only two points well after the game was already decided, and all 7 of her rebounds came on the defensive side of the floor.
This issue goes back to the sense of panic felt by the visiting Bombers. The senior duo of Alex Kiess and Kaitlin Chrisman tried to will their team back from the huge gap created by the Lady Panthers. Their shots simply wouldn’t go down, however, and, with Delta only allowing Edon to pull in 4 offensive rebounds, this left the post presence Edon sorely needed absent from the offense entirely.
Kiess finished the night with 14 points, included a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. Unfortunately, only two more players made it to the line, and they combined for a mere 3-7 venture from the charity stripe. The Edon senior also took in 11 rebounds for a double-double, and had a steal as well.
The other member of the duo, Chrisman, put up 9 points, 2 rebounds, and a steal.
In terms of rebounding, Edon actually outperformed Delta 22-20. This had a lot to do with the Panthers making most of their shots, though. Also, Edon committed 14 turnovers, however, most of them came in the second half, when they succumbed to Delta’s full court pressure. The Lady Bombers were a bit lucky in this area, as there were several occasions in which Edon players picked up their dribble in the corner, an egregious error as it makes trapping so much easier for defenders. They were able to withstand those traps from the Panthers, but this problem will cost the Bombers down the road if not rectified.
Delta is a better team than Edon, and is probably better than most people realized in the preseason. But they aren’t 28 points better. Once Delta started to pull away, Edon’s problems just compounded upon themselves.