Cardington girls get win

Aggressive defense and an effective offense led the Cardington girls past home Northmor on Saturday by a 56=24 score.

Shelby Cooper gave the Golden Knights an early 2-0 lead after hitting a shot a mere 10 seconds into the first quarter. However, Cardington would clamp down and not surrender another score until Cooper connected from three-point range early in the second quarter.

“I told them today I wanted to come out super-aggressive on defense and try to get up and guard them because I thought we could get some good turnovers and deflections and get some steals and easy looks,” said Pirate coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. “It worked out; we did a good job defensively. We did a good job on their screens, we hedged hard and got some deflections and got a lot of run-outs and we made them tonight. The other night, we couldn’t make anything. We made everything tonight. That’s basketball.”

Six of the team’s first nine points came off the offensive glass, as Magi Hallibrin collected three misses and converted them into buckets.

“Magi is always around the ball,” said Fitzpatrick. “Against Danville, she got seven or eight rebounds, too, and half of them were on the offensive end. She’s just super-active. She had a bunch of shots against Danville that didn’t go in. Tonight, she grabbed them and put them back in. When you have a kid active like that, it makes a big difference. It thought all our kids were active on the glass.”

After Cooper’s three-pointer in the second quarter, Northmor trailed 13-5. However, they would be unable to stop Cardington from widening the gap between the two teams. Kinstin Henthorn hit two three-pointers and scored eight in the period, while Abigail Hardwick picked up nine points in helping the Pirates open up a 35-12 lead at the intermission.

“That’s the story of the whole season,” said Northmor coach Freddie Beachy. “We can’t put the ball in the basket. Shooting drill after shooting drill after shooting drill — hopefully, it will click in a little bit. I hate to use the excuse, but we have one kid back from last year who has a lot of varsity playing time. It’s going to take them a while to get used to (the varsity level).”

The Lady Pirates opened up a 32-point lead in the third quarter, as Hardwick scored six points and Henthorn added four. Buckets by Madison Caulkins and Hallabrin in the fourth pushed that lead over 35, causing the game to finish under a running clock.

Beachy noted that his team simply has to improve offensively, as they are currently unable to shoot their way out of deficits.

“We dig that hole,” he said. “We’re not good enough to fight back. We were 8-of-23 at the foul line. Same story against Mount Gilead. We missed 17 foul shots against them and lose by 10. We were 47 percent against East Knox and lose by two. It’s the little things. It hurts us because we’re young and when we do make mistakes, we’re not good enough to overcome them. I think it’ll get better. I know it will. These girls play hard, they don’t quit, they don’t like to lose and they’ll figure it out.”

Cooper led Northmor with 17 points. For Cardington, Hardwick scored a game-high 19, while Henthorn hit three three-pointers in adding 12. Hallabrin contributed eight.

Fitzpatrick said that the big difference from this game and an early-week loss to Danville was simply that the shots were dropping.

“I told them there really wasn’t anything I could say after the Danville game except for put the ball in the hole,” he said. “We got everything we wanted and we just have to keep our heads up because the ball is going to go in. We were getting the same shots tonight and we were making them, so that makes a huge difference once you can put the ball in the hole.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS