Peacock Uses Rebound And Transition Game To Defeat Central
Photos and Story by Robert Thomas
It may have not been the prettiest of games but the Peacock Toilers defeated the visiting Central Cyclones 55 - 45 in high school senior girls basketball action on Tuesday evening.
Peacock Toilers Kylee Cooper (left) watches Central Cyclones Rylee Miskiman - MJ Independent photo
The game's early stages saw the teams tied up in the first few minutes but then the Toilers burst out in all categories.
The Cyclones were not able to keep up with Toilers. The score at the end of the First Quarter was Peacock 21 and Central 10.
The 11 point lead the Toilers built up in the first quarter was a lead the Cyclones were unable to overcome.
Peacock Toilers Tamina Lemke tries to corral the ball before it went out of bounds - MJ Independent photo
The Second Quarter saw the Toilers slightly outscore the Cyclones by a single point.
The score at half time was Peacock 32 and Central 20.
Central Cyclones Ally Detublo catches a pass - MJ Independent photo
The Third Quarter saw the Cyclones regain a small amount of momentum drawing within nine points of the Toilers with 5:45 left in the quarter.
At that point the score was 36 - 27 for Peacock but the Cyclones at that point had outscored the Toilers in the quarter.
Central’s Molly McLean made a long shot for two points with 2:30 left in the quarter.
The momentum Central had was answered by the Toilers Mattaya Coupland who made an underhand two hand basket with 1:40 left.
The score at the end of the quarter was Peacock 45 and Central 32.
Rebounding - MJ Independent photo
The Fourth Quarter saw the Cyclones have opportunities to put points on the board but they were unable to.
The first basket of the quarter was scored by Ava Nichols with 8:20 left in the quarter.
The Toilers continued to apply pressure and broke down the floor after defensively out rebounding.
The defensive play of the game went to Reidun Krukoff who hustled back to break up a wide open Toilers Torri Tatum who was headed in on a layup.
The final score was the Peacock Toilers 55 and the Central Cyclones 45.
Central Cyclones Ally Detublo (left) takes a shot as Peacock Toilers Kylee Cooper tries to block the shot - MJ Independent photo
Top Point Scorers Peacock
Devlynn McClung - 29 points
Hannah Miller - 11 points
Top Point Scorers Central
Addison Simpson - 12 points
Molly McLean - 9 points
Central Cyclones Ally Detublo (left) pushes Peacock Toilers Kylee Cooper and is given a foul - MJ Independent photo
Peacock Toilers head coach Brendan Fedoski said injuries made the game challenging.
“It was a good game. A challenging game for us. We dealt with some injuries but it was really good. It was a character building game,” Fedoski said.
Despite the score the Toilers had to bear down on defence in the last 20 minutes because the Cyclones were matching Peacock's scoring.
“We talked and we had to play a lot of hard defence in the second half because everyone is tired and we just had to grind it out.”
Fedoski said Peacock's nailbiter double overtime game on the weekend was still having an effect on the team's performance.
Peacock Toilers Jill Polupski (left) and Central Cyclones Ayen Riak fight for the ball - MJ Independent photo
Peacock played a hard rebounding game which had a major impact on the outcome.
“I was happy with the rebounding. That is one of our emphases out there. Central has two really big posts and we're a little bit of a smaller team so we had to work hard for those rebounds.”
Play down the base line was good, Fedoski said.
“We really emphasize the transition up and down the floor both offence and defense. Even though the hills are tired tonight they still ran the floor very well. That’s how we were able to get some easy baskets especially the first half.”
Central Cyclones Molly McLean (center) goes in for a layup - MJ Independent photo
For Central Cyclones head coach Tanya McLean the loss was a tough one as her team just could not catch any traction.
“We struggled. We struggled,” McLean responded when asked her thoughts on the game.
Asked about how the Cyclones faltered in the first quarter but went toe toe on the scoreboard in the second half with the Toilers she said things just never followed the game plan.
“We were good with them. We just did not execute our plan.”
Central Cyclones Molly McLean (far left) attempts to go around Peacock Toilers Mattaya Coupland - MJ Independent photo
She said the Cyclones turned the ball over too much and the Toilers had great shooting.
“We need to do what we do in practice in games. If we do that we will be successful but we had too many turnovers. Too many turnovers,” McLean said, adding “there was way too many turnovers. And again we didn’t shoot well. And Peacock shot well.”
