DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
The South Adams Starfires overcame a shaky third quarter to hang on for a win in their season opener, beating Eastbrook Saturday, 46-37, thanks to a near triple-double night by Ana Lehman.
Eager to get the season started, it looked like it was going to be an absolute runaway in the opening quarter, with South Adams laying 22 points on the Panthers, but a run of poor shooting in the third negated what was a 14-point lead.
Eastbrook cut the lead to as little as four points as coach Freeman had to juggle foul trouble against an Eastbrook team coming off a disappoint 62-11 loss at Monroe Central Wednesday.
“It’s a good win to pick up in game one,” admitted Brett Freeman, who also acknowledged that it has been an emotional week in Starfire country.
“The girls really played with great effort throughout. Defensively we did a nice job applying pressure.”
The one player who caused the most trouble for that tough SA defense was Na’kylia Reason. The center had 17 points to lead the visitors, taking nearly half the team’s shots for a 7-for-17 night.
Reason dominated the boards, matching her point total with a 17-rebound night.
Equally as impressive was Ana Lehman’s night. Along with her game-high 18 points, she also had 12 boards and nine steals.
“They made a conscious effort to try taking Ana out of the game,” Freeman pointed out, “but she still put a strong stat line together. When she wasn’t getting looks, others were putting in some baskets.”
More than anything, Freeman was happy with the overall defensive effort.
“We did a nice job of applying pressure. Once our rotations really get down defensively, it’ll be a tough group to score on. You could tell we were off at times and allowed some outside looks from their shooter and easy feeds in the post. That will get better.”
Freeman’s team will not play on Tuesday out of respect for Gabe Steiner, whose funeral will be held at the school on that day. They’ll move their game at Winchester to Thursday to open up the season for the Golden Falcons, who were just 3-15 last year.
Mariana Tenorio had eight points in the Starfire win, while Shaylee Sprunger also had eight. Lucy Schwartz added six.
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