GIRLS BASKETBALL: Defense carries Trojans

FULDA — A close game at halftime turned into a rout as Worthington defeated Fulda 63-36 in non-conference girls basketball Saturday.

The Trojans (8-3 overall) led 31-26 through 18 minutes before scoring the first 14 points of the second half and limiting the Raiders (10-3 overall) to just 10 points after the break.

Worthington head coach Eric Lindner said he was pleased with the Trojans’ defensive execution.

“We planned on not attacking hard, but getting our defenders in the three-quarters court and forcing (Fulda) into making some decisions,” Lindner said. “We were lucky to get their point guard (Sariah Cheadle) into foul trouble, and that hurt them.”

Lindner said post defense was also a key for Worthington.

“Defensively, we did a very nice job on (Fulda’s) post players,” Lindner said. “Those are kids who are scoring in double digits every night.”

Raiders center Rachel Cheadle, who led all scorers with 12 points, produced nine of Fulda’s first 10 markers a little more than 6 minutes into the game and scored all of her points before halftime. Forward Melissa Gehl was limited to three points on the inside.

Sophomore guard Courtney Tiesler chipped in nine points as the Raiders fell to 10-3 overall.

“(Worthington) played very well and we did not play well in the second half,” Fulda head coach Gregg Slaathaug said. “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t know they we’re going to do. They just did it really well.”

After Brittney Hermeling drained a right-wing 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the first half to trim the Worthington lead to 31-26, the Fulda offense was limited to one Tiesler free throw during the next 10:02.

Meanwhile, the Trojans generated a 14-0 run that extended Worthington’s edge to 45-26 with 9:55 left. Abbie Langaard, who topped WHS with 11 points, sparked the scoring eruption with a layup and finished it with a putback.

In between, the Trojans received layups from Whitney Coriolan, Paige Gravenhof and Brooke Henning, a baseline drive from Lydia Kemper and a putback from Henning.

Henning ended up with eight points and eight rebounds in a balanced Worthington attack that had 11 different players score at least two points. Kemper and Ana Boever each finished with seven points, while Gravenhof, Riley and Coriolan all had six points apiece.

Lindner was pleased with his frontline players.

“I thought Brooke was everything that she needed to be and Apiew also did some good things,” Lindner said. “We have switched our rotation to include two ‘bigs.’ It just makes our rebounding so much better and we have stronger help on the defensive backside.”

Fulda held a slim 25-24 advantage in rebounding as Rachel Cheadle pulled down 10 caroms.

In the first half, the Trojans clung to an 11-10 lead after Rachel Cheadle completed the second of three 3-point plays at the 11:49 mark.

But Kemper hit a pair of free throws and a right-corner 3-pointer as Worthington had leads of 15-10 and 18-14.

Fulda scored the next six points for a 20-18 edge behind Tiesler’s 3-pointer, Brittney Hermeling’s free throw from and Tiesler’s transition layup.

“If Worthington was going to beat us, we wanted it to come with us playing our style of ball,” Slaathaug said. “We didn’t want to get into a game where we had to play Worthington’s style of ball and we played our style until midway through the second half.”

The Trojans answered with an 8-0 run and a 26-20 advantage, sparked by Henning, who had a layup and a drive for another bucket, a Langaard basket and two Coriolan free throws.

Rachel Cheadle’s third 3-point play came with 3:37 left in the first half as Fulda trailed 26-23. But Worthington, which made 12 of 13 free throws in the game, went to the charity stripe to make 5 of 6 shots in the last 2:56 before halftime.

The Raiders went to the free-throw line 24 times, making 11 attempts.

WORTHINGTON 63, FULDA 36

WORTHINGTON (8-3): Boever 3 1-1 7, Ebber 1 0-0 2, Langaard 5 1-2 11, Henning 4 0-0 8, Kemper 2 2-2 7, Bruns 0 2-2 2, Gravenhof 2 0-0 6, Riley 3 0-0 6, Thongvaugh 2 0-0 4, Carstensen 0 0-0 0, Coriolan 1 4-4 6, Alwal 1 2-2 4, Eggers 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 12-13 63.

FULDA (10-3): Hermeling 1 2-5 5, Schumacher 0 0-0 0, Ru. Cheadle 0 0-0 0, Westra 0 0-2 0, C. Tiesler 3 2-7 9, R. Tiesler 1 0-0 3, Gehl 1 1-2 3, S. Cheadle 1 0-0 2, Ra. Cheadle 4 4-6 12, Zins 0 2-2 2, Renneke 0 0-0 0, Holinka 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 11-24 36.

Halftime: Worthington 31, Fulda 26. 3-Point Goals: Worthington 3 (Gravenhof 2, Kemper); Fulda 3 (Hermeling, C. Tiesler, R. Tiesler). Rebounds: Worthington 24 (Henning 8); Fulda 25 (R. Cheadle 10, Hermeling 6). Total Fouls (Fouled out): Worthington 26 (Riley); Fulda 16 (S. Cheadle). Steals: Worthington 13 (Alwal 3, Gravenhof 3); Fulda 7. Assists: Worthington 19 (Henning 6, Gravenhof 3, Langaard 3); Fulda 5. Blocked Shots: Worthington 5 (Alwal 2); Fulda 1. Turnovers: Worthington 22; Fulda 32.

Tags: sports, girls, basketball, trojans, fulda, prep